Crystal Palace 2 Swindon 1

Swindon Town put on a gutsy display this afternoon at Selhurst Park but bow out gracefully of the FA Cup after losing 2-1 to Championship side Crystal Palace.

There was an atmosphere in the air prior to the match. At 12 o’clock the Whetherspoons pub across from Thornton Heath rail station was full of Swindon Town fans singing and cheering their team on 3 hours prior to kick off.

Played under very wet and windy conditions, Crystal Palace got off to the best possible start when Shefki Kuqi scored a header from Stuart Green’s corner to silence the very large and very vocal Swindon Town support.

The fans did not allow this to dis-hearten them, after a couple of minutes of reflection the Town fans were in full voice again and had several chances to equalise with Sofienne Zaaboub and Ricky Shakes both breaking away but not being able to finish.

The first half ended 1-0 to the home side.

Both teams came back on the 2nd half and played back and forward down the pitch as both teams looked for a goal. Town needed the equaliser to get them back into the game, whilst Palace could look to have a bit of breathing space.

Palace would respond first with Jobi McAnuff scoring a fantastic goal from 20 yards to give the home side a 2-0 lead.

The Town fans then roared their team off, much to the annoyance of the home fans who were chanting “Why are you still here” to the over 2,000 Swindon Fans.

On the 85th minute a lifeline for Swindon Town. Jerel Ifil scores for Swindon sending the Travelling army into raptures. The goal had been coming all game and Town were very unlucky not to have scored sooner.

The fans got behind the side and Swindon looked to have brought the game to 2-2 towards the end of the 90 minutes when a ball was knocked about in the box, however no Swindon player was able to get onto the end of it and tap it in.

The 4th official indicated 4 minutes of added time to which Swindon had several corners to force a replay but it wasn’t to be, Palace would hold on to advance to the 4th round of the FA Cup.

Swindon Town got a huge ovation from the large away support as they left the pitch, they had given it all and certainly did not look like a team 2 divisions lower than Crystal Palace.