Dan Butterworth hailed as ‘the Swindon Messi’ following superb equaliser

Ian Holloway said goal hero Dan Butterworth was being teased as “the Swindon Messi” after his moment of magic secured a point for Swindon in a 2-2 draw at Accrington.

The Robins took the lead after 10 minutes when a long ball forward by Joel McGregor found Harry Smith and he headed home his sixth goal of the season.

Stanley equalised in the 16th minute when Ben Woods’ corner was flicked home by Manchester United loanee Sonny Aljofree.

Swindon goalkeeper Jack Bycroft pulled off a number of superb saves but could not stop Stanley’s second on the half-hour when Donald Love’s free-kick was headed home by Farrend Rawson.

The Robins equalised after 69 minutes with the goal of the game as Butterworth’s one-two with Paul Glatzel sent the forward racing into the area and he evaded a number of challenges to fire low into the net.

Holloway, who got his first point as Swindon boss after two league games in charge, said: “They are teasing Danny as the Swindon Messi but that’s as good a goal as I have seen in a long time.

“It’s fantastic ability and skill. We’ve got that in abundance but we’ve got to make sure the basics are as good as the unbelievable bits and be consistent.

“I thought it was a fantastic game. They were all over us in the first half, I wasn’t happy at half-time and I let them have it. We were lucky in the first half as they were on top.

“I was happy with the second half. Overall the players will know a bit more about me and I will know a bit more about us and there was plenty in the second half which did please me.

“I’ve got 30 games left to get us out of this mess we are in. If we adapt ourselves and play like we did in the second half I can see some points coming. The hard bit about this level is being consistent.”

Stanley boss John Doolan rued missed chances to secure the win.

“We couldn’t ask for any more of the lads and my mantra is ‘if you can’t win a game, don’t lose it’.

“But it should have been out of sight in the first half, the chances, the shots.

“We should have put the game to bed and we didn’t.

“We took the lead into half-time and we created chance after chance in the second half but we didn’t take them. This allowed them to grow into the game and it pushed us deeper so, in the end, I was proud of the way we defended.

“For 70 minutes we were very good, but we’ve got to be more clinical.”