Mens 1's vs Devizes

Following defeat at home in the previous encounter, the men's 1st XI turned the result on it's head against a Devizes side lacking in confidence.

The game was a fairly bad tempered affair, with a number of robust challenges made early on. The visitors looked the stronger, and capitalised from a short corner some ten minutes into the first period. The ball was shipped left to Chris Parsons, who found Luke Cejer. His effort was stopped by the goalkeeper before Henry Cheney found the back of the net for the opener.

Swindon continued to put pressure on, with Phil Scarisbrick working hard up front and man of the match James Lewis putting in a tremendous shift. With ten minutes to go in the first half, Swindon doubled their lead. Pete Gilbert drove down the left and appeared to have overrun the ball, before digging out a fantastic reverse stick cross. Cheney picked up the ball, remaining composed before slotting his and Swindon's second of the game.

The second half saw Swindon continue to press for the third goal that would settle the game. Following a yellow card for a Devizes player as result of a poor challenge, Swindon took full advantage. More great work from Gilbert and Steve Dixon down the Swindon left found Lewis in the middle of the circle. Lewis poked the ball in order to strike for goal, inadvertently setting up Cheney to hit first time on the reverse, completing his hat trick.

Veteran keeper Alan Gough was again a stalwart for the visitors, denying Devizes from countless short corners. Eventually Gough was beaten by a tidy finish from the right of the circle.

Despite late yellow cards for Thomas Hunt for a poor challenge and Lewis for a deliberate back stick, Swindon never really looked in danger and saw out the game; Lewis Dyer and Sam Monks again marshalled the defence well.

The result was Swindon's 7th win in 8 since Christmas and sets the team up nicely for a proper run at promotion in 2015/2016. Next week sees the visit of Yate, another side that we shall be looking to reverse the result from the first half of the season against, having lost 4-2 at their place.

MOM: James Lewis, fantastic effort.
DOD: Oxford was a bad choice.