Swindon thrash Walsall to boost promotion hopes

Posted Wednesday, February 23, 2022 by PA

Ricky Aguiar scored a debut double as Swindon strengthened their promotion hopes by stunning Michael Flynn’s Walsall with a 5-0 thrashing at the County Ground.

Josh Davison teed up Louie Barry to open the scoring with a powerful strike into the roof of the net in the 36th minute as Swindon deservedly took the lead.

Davison grabbed his second assist 10 minutes later, setting up midfielder Aguiar for his first Robins goal as his shot from outside the box sailed past Carl Rushworth.

Two quick-fire second-half goals dashed any hopes of a Walsall comeback with the two scorers repeating their first-half goalscoring feats.

Aguiar latched onto Joe Tomlinson’s cutback, finishing with a shot into the top corner to make it 3-0, before Barry intercepted a lacklustre pass across midfield and raced through on goal to score on the counter-attack.

Substitute Jonny Williams rounded off a thumping win with a 71st-minute tap-in to secure Swindon their biggest victory of the season and inflict a first defeat on new Walsall manager Flynn – after their shock win at Forest Green on Saturday.