Wellens frustrated as Swindon face replay with Cheltenham

Posted Sunday, November 10, 2019 by PA

Richie Wellens felt his Swindon team should have eased comfortably into the second round of the FA Cup at Cheltenham.

They looked to have won the tie when Jerry Yates struck in stoppage time, but there was still time for Alex Addai to equalise for the home side and the League Two sides will meet again at the County Ground on November 19.

“First 10 minutes we weren’t great, but for the next 80 minutes we were tremendous,” Wellens said.

“We put balls in behind them, we created space, we passed around them and it was a very good performance.

“Two teams quite high in the league and it was quite a good game, but we deserved to win, there is no doubt about that.

“We deserved to win last time we came here (a 2-2 draw in August) and we deserved it even more so today. We were dominant and we thought we’d won it, but we have another opportunity to do it again.

“We had two one-on-ones in the first half but the keeper has made a couple of good saves.

“I am proud of the players for the performance they put in and we should have gone through.”

Cheltenham boss Michael Duff admitted his team were off colour and fortunate to be in Monday night’s draw for the second round.

“We probably should have got beaten, so credit to Swindon,” Duff said.

“It’s another team that’s come with a plan and we couldn’t quite work it out.

“That’s the worst we’ve been for a long time. We have managed to not get beat, so there are positives within it, but it’s just more challenges.

“I think the biggest thing people have to realise is we have never said we’re the real deal. We are probably punching above our weight at the minute and we want to stay up and around it, coming up against good team likes Swindon who will definitely be in the top seven at least.

“It’s things we need to learn and things we need to work on.”

Looking for their first ever win at Cheltenham, Swindon were on top for much of the game and had the best chances to take the lead during the first half.

Ben Tozer made an important block from Kaiyne Woolery and the ball fell kindly for goalkeeper Scott Flinders, who then blocked well from Woolery three minutes later and saved from Yates.

Yates saw a header hit the right post after a cross from Dion Donohue in the 57th minute as Swindon continued to look the most threatening, taking the lead through Yates’ shot into the bottom right corner.

But before the away fans had stopped celebrating, substitute Addai slotted home at the other end after the ball ricocheted to him in the box.