MATCHDAY LIVE: Swindon vs Colchester United

Hardly vintage from Town, but they allowed Colchester very little and create the openings to do more than they did.

That is full-time. Swindon get the 1-0 win.

90- Aguiar nearly scored a worldie. With the ball bouncing up, he was under pressure but jumped up and volleyed it narrowly over the top. 1-0.

Six minutes added on. (Obligatory where did he get that from for those of you not in the stadium to hear it yourselves).

89- Indecision in the Colchester penalty area meant Morgan Roberts got a shot off and it was deflected behind for a corner. 1-0.

87: Ben Gladwin gets booked for a tactical foul that you would be happy for him to take at this stage. 1-0.

84- Poor from Hutton there, he came over to be subbed off well before the board had been raised, there could have been a lot more time wasting there. 1-0.

84- OFF: Jephcott, Hutton ; Clayton

ON: Roberts, Brennan ; Chilvers

83- Iandolo, looking very ungaimly, got the ball on the right and came inside and drew a decent stop from Hornby at his near post. 1-0.

80- Colchester are starting to put a bit of pressure on. Brynn is called into action to punch a corner away and Judge took that down and shot over from the top of the box. You just know this will be a draw as Colchester have done very little all game. 1-0.

78- OFF: Williams

ON: Iandolo

76- OFF: Frank Nouble, Cole Skuse

ON: Alan Judge, Dan Chesters

71- Colchester threaten as Kazeem drives into space down the left and Aguiar has to play it behind to give Colchester their first corner of the game. They did nothing with it. 1-0.

69- Aguiar appears to be taking free-kicks now and he blasted one well over the bar from 30 yards. 1-0.

A comical goal in the end. Williams was in acres of space on the right and played it across goal and it went all the way across and hit the outstep of Shade's boot, bouncing just far enough away from 'keeper and defender to get beyond the line.

GOAL! Swindon 1 (O Fenomeno '64) Colchester 0

63- Colchester having openings all of a sudden. Sears runs in behind Clayton, but Brynn gets out to him and stops him getting a shot off. 0-0.

61- Frank Nouble strolls down the side before coming inside and blasting it over the top 0-0.

60- As close as it has been. Gladwin shrugs off a tight marker and plays it out to Hutton, his cross is right across the face of goal but Jephcott just can't connect. 0-0.

56- OFF: Ronan Darcy, Jacob Wakeling

ON: Ricky Aguiar, Tyrese Shade

56- This half has not begun with the energy you might have hoped. 0-0.

51- Williams forces the first save of the half. Gladwin plays a super ball out to him, he feigns to pass outside to Blake-Tracy but comes inside, his shot looped up off a deflection and with the grace of a giraffe on roller skates Jephcott clattered into the goalkeeper.

48- That looked like a penalty for Swindon. Hutton crossed into the middle and as Jephcott went to get on the end of it he was pulled from behind. Nothing given. 0-0.

The second half is underway

Other musings from the first-half

• Ben Gladwin has knitted the play together very well and is keeping Colchester on the move
• Hutton has clearly taken his advice to heart
• Swindon have been strong in transition, they have countered well when the opportunity presented itself and have not allowed Colchester space to break themselves

Not many goals around the grounds in League Two. Only Grimsby have scored more than once so far.

Well, Swindon started well there and I would say that Lindsey's game plan is working. The full-backs playing on the touchlines and have limited Colchester to very little in attack and created space in their defence. The issue is Swindon have lacked the sharpness to pounce on the space quickly enough and often allowed a defender back in to make a block.

Half-time: Swindon 0 Colchester 0

45- Yellow card for Tchamadeu after he pulled Williams down by the Jan Kolar. 0-0.

There will be three minutes of added time.

42- Swindon threaten again but it is offside. Darcy plays a quick one-two with Jephcott and looks to play in Williams, but he was quite clearly beyond the last defender.

40- Saidou Khan with a really convincing Gerard Pique impression. A pass came back to him on the edge of the box and he left it for Clayton only for Freddie Sears to nip in. Swindon recovered to prevent any real sight at goal. 0-0.

37- Marley Marshall-Miranda goes into the book for scything down Ben Gladwin just inside the Colchester half.

34- Good counter from Swindon. Gladwin receives the ball from Wakeling and marches forward. He slides the ball pout to Hutton who does well to get beyond his full-back and the low cross is hacked behind. Swindon have basically not be threatened at all and have found space but can't seem to get that final ball or shot off in time.0-0.

32- Some more patient build-up that went down both sides eventually saw Khan run beyond the defensive line only for his shot to be deflected wide. 0-0.

28- I still am not convinced by Wakeling as a winger. Hutton played a lovely slide rule pass to get him in down the side but he was too slow to react and it was cleared before he got there. 0-0.

26- Colchester are playing very deep here, to the extent that Nouble and Hannant as essentially playing as full-backs tracking Hutton and Blake-Tracy. They have been able to repel Swindon so far but it has taken some last ditch defending.

22- It looks so far like Hutton has taken on the coaching as twice he has got the ball down the right and both times he has gone beyond his full-back before crossing and the ball he did get across was dangerous. 0-0.

20- I am starting to think the Newport game got to Darcy's head. He took on a shot from a corner that was cleared but lashed it over the bar. Quick pause in play as a Colchester defender is down injured. 0-0.

18- Good play from Swindon. A quick passing move has Jephcott in behind but his shot gets blocked but only half cleared. The ball comes back and Jephcott is again denied by the keeper. 0-0.

13- A rare Blake-Tracy cross almost ends in a goal. The left-back gets slipped in by Williams and fires it across goal and Wakeling should make contact but misses it. Shouts for handball but not for me Clive. 0-0.

11- I never like how Swindon build-up from the goalkeeper. They commit too many players high up the pitch and limit their options for passes forward. I just feel they need more from the midfield to drop in and receive the ball. 0-0.

10- This has been a promising start for Swindon, they are finding space by stretching the pitch with their full-backs and have had some early half chances. Significantly better than this time a week ago. 0-0.

8- Swindon have the ball in the net but it is ruled out. The resulting corner went to Blake-Tracy and he powered it into the top corner, but there was a foul ahead of him. 0-0.

7- I said we were looking for it and there it was from Hutton. Received the ball in space and got beyond his opposite number before delivering a dangerous ball that was just flicked behind before it got to Wakeling.

5- The Swindon full-backs are taking up very high positions here, with Darcy and Khan dropping into the space they are leaving behind. Nifty stuff but it does leave Swindon a touch light in the middle. 0-0.

4- Scott Lindsey goes absolutely ballistic at the linesman thinking the ball had gone out (it had not) and then Baudry came across to prevent Nouble making further progress, fouled him and got away without a booking somewhat fortuitously.

1- Swindon nearly in immediately as a ball forward was chased down by Jephcott and just cleared by the defenders to prevent him being in one-on-one. 0-0.

Ben Gladwin gets us underway.

Colchester are already in our heads, Swindon are shooting towards the Town End first half. This could already be a lost cause.

Here come the players.

In addition to the usual array on flag wavers and of course ball car, there is also a big dog mascot wearing what looks like a space helmet (although I am going to assume it is a Wiltshire Air Ambulance thing). There is clearly a big rivalry as it and Rockin' Robin are refusing to acknowledge one another. Please do a penalty shoot-out at half-time.

Scott Lindsey also said on Thursday that he had been working with Remeao Hutton about getting into "crossing positions" to give Swindon a better chances when they put the ball in the middle, so that will be something to look out for in the game if they have been able to correct that on the training ground.

Swindon were not great last weekend and I wrote a piece this week about why, so prior to kick-off it could be a good idea to read it.

https://www.totalswindon.com/sport/swindon-v-stevenage-what-went-wrong/

I have to say I am surprised that Louis Reed is left on the bench again this afternoon. As I said on the Loathed Strangers, he is so good that he should never be out of the team and so to deliberately drop him twice is strange. He might not be playing quite as well as last season just yet but he has still been good and is a very important part of Swindon passing the ball quickly. I like Khan but he just doesn't have the same skill set and especially in a game like today when Town would be expected to dominate.

There is no Matthew Longstaff in the squad for Colchester this afternoon, of "that" screamer against Man Utd fame and Wellens once said Swindon were on the verge of bringing him in on loan. I can't find something about him being injured, so shall we put it down to good luck?

Colchester are under new management, as has been noted, and it is one win and one loss under the first time boss. They did beat Charlton in the PJT but most people are doing that these days I am led to understand. Lindsey mentioned multiple times on Thursday how he is not sure how they are going to play, so it is safe to assume that he knows exactly what to expect.

It would appear Colchester are lining up in a 4231 based on their previous games under Matt Bloomfield.

Hornby

Tchamadeu Chambers Dallison Kazeem

Skuse Marshall-Miranda

Sears Chilvers Hannant

Nouble

I am going to question how a team in 20th in League Two have Alan Judge and John Akinde on their bench.

Colchester United XI:

Hornby, Chambers, Dallison, Hannant, Skuse, Sears, Chilvers, Tchamadeu, Kazeem, Marshall-Miranda, Nouble

Subs: O'Hara, Clampin, Judge, Eastman, Newby, Chesters, Akinde

Swindon Town XI:

Brynn; Hutton, Baudry, Clayton, Blake-Tracy; Gladwin, Khan, Darcy; Wakeling, Jephcott, Williams

Subs: Brann, Iandolo, Reed, Aguiar, Shade, Roberts, Brennan

As was eluded to in the the preview to this game Swindon are not great against Colchester. Two wins in the last 15 although that record is a more modern phenomena as across history is is very even. Hopefully that is going to change today but there will need to be improvements from a week ago.

Hello everyone. I am in position at the County Ground ahead of Swindon welcoming Colchester to the County Ground. The U's are 20th in the league but after last week it would take a brave man to feel overwhelmingly confident that Town get the win.