For the second consecutive match, albeit two weeks apart, United returned from a trip to Wiltshire having suffered defeat, this time to second bottom Swindon Supermarine who beat United in the league for the first time ever at the eighth attempt. Manager Mark Molesley stuck with the same starting XI that were robbed of a share of the spoils at Salisbury two weeks earlier with his latest three signings all taking places on the United bench alongside Amos Nasha and Luke Warner-Eley. On a bumpy frosty pitch, it was the home side who started the better and with an early corner from the left, Jacob Adams failed to get a touch on the ball, it struck Toby Raison on the knee before rolling against the post whereby Sam Turl slid in and played the ball goalwards only for Omar Rowe to clear it off his own goalline. With seven minutes played Zack Kotwica found Liban Ibrahim on the edge of the box, the midfielder pulled the trigger but his effort was blocked away by a superb sliding tackle from Rowe however just two minutes later the hosts were ahead as Ibrahim played the ball nicely into the feet of Levi Irving and he smashed the ball past Adams. United found a bit of momentum soon after as Michael Fernandes cut inside from the left and found Ronan Silva in the Swindon area, his low shot was pushed away by home stopper Conor Brann. On 18 minutes the home side had the ball in the United net once more as home skipper Jake Andrews swept in a free-kick from the right side of the box that seemed to evade all and sundry before nestling in the far corner only for the “goal” to be wiped out by a raised assistants flag for offside against Raison who was said to have obscured Adams vision while in an offside position. Brann was again to deny Silva just before the half hour mark, the United man collecting an Ayo Faniyan cross from the left before shooting from the edge of the box but his effort was straight into Brann’s welcoming midriff. Ten minutes from the break Ryan Campbell for the hosts crossed from the left wing to Zack Kotwica but his effort was well over the United goal and on 42 minutes it was United’s turn to be denied by the offside flag. Sanmi Odelusi dispossessed Andrews 25 yards from the Swindon goal, played a neat one-two with Steve Ngunga before finding Fernandes on the edge, his chipped pass to the right found Ngunga who slotted the ball past Brann only to turn around to see the flag raised against him. Minutes later the home side nearly doubled their advantage as firstly Rowe again did well to throw himself in to block a shot, Joe Tumelty’s effort going wide for a corner. The subsequent kick sailed over Adams’ outstretched arm but thankfully Odelusi was well placed to head the ball away off the line. In stoppage time a nice United move ended with an equaliser. Silva collected the ball in the middle of the park and worked it right to Rowe who fed it further right to Cole Brown who found Ngunga on the righthand touchline, the winger cutting inside past Campbell before crossing into the middle where Fernandes got in front of Turl to fire home and we went in level at the break with chances pretty much even steven. The hosts again started the quicker after the break and with less than three minutes played Andrews fed the ball into Kotwica’s run inside the United box on the right, his angled drive being pushed away by Adams at his near post. Soon after at the other end of the field Faniyan won the ball in a tackle and as it ran to the on-coming Brown he tried his luck from 20 yards but the ball flew just wide of the Swindon goal. Sadly within a minute United were once again behind. Ibrahim collected the ball on the left side, his deep cross sailed over Luke Warner-Eley, an early first half substitute for the injured Charlie Stallard, leaving a free header for Taunton loanee striker Dave Sims-Burgess and he managed to squeeze his header between Adams and post to put his side ahead once more. As the hour mark approached the home side had two chances to further increase their lead. Kotwica and Irving combined to send Tumelty through in the right side of the box but his was denied by Adams who did well to push his drive away to safety and a minute later Irving outpaced Warner-Eley but his shot from just inside the box was too high to trouble Adams. In the 69th minute Ngunga nipped inside from the right and found Faniyan in the middle, his shot on the turn going inches wide of the target and five minutes later a United defensive header dropped nicely to Irving but his shot was superbly cleared off the line by Cole Brown. With five minutes remaining Sims-Burgess struck again, applying a diving header finish to an Irving cross and once again the defensive marking from United has to be drawn into question as it was pretty much another free header this time giving Adams no chance. United did manage a second with pretty much the last kick of the game as Ngunga fed debutant Luke Gambin on the edge of the box, his shot taking a double deflection off Andrews then Raison to deceive Brann and that’s how things closed out with United falling to defeat and starting to look down rather than up as things currently stand.
Report by Kevin Watts.