Saturday 12th April 1986
Swindon Town 1-1 Scunthorpe Utd Division 4
Town were left rueing missed chances as lowly Scunthorpe put a dent into the red’s championship aspirations. Unfortunately this game would be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
In the 87th minute referee Martin Bodenham was struck on the head by a missile from an irate fan after failing to award what would appear to have been two dead-cert penalties in a matter of minutes.
At this stage of the game it was a real backs-to-the-wall performance from the visitors who’d recovered from a Dave Bamber goal to stun the County Ground in the 62nd minute. Keeper Kenny Allen was at fault. He should have easily dealt with a left wing corner from Dave Travis but he seemed to hesitate before reacting. Scunny defender Les Hunter needed no invitation and his powerful header found the back of the net.
From then on it was unrelenting Town pressure but try what they may, Scunthorpe held on. The first penalty incident came in the 84th minute when Peter Coyne looked to be blatantly scythed down by Paul Longden after slipping the ball past him. One minute later Chris Kamara came crashing down in the 6-yard box under pressure. On both occasions, Bodenham looked set to blow only to change his mind at the last second.
Charlie Henry came close to winning it late on when his shot rapped the legs of keeper Paul Johnson.
Dave Bamber’s first half goal came about following a defensive mistake. Alan Whitehead had sold Johnson short with an underhit back-pass and big Dave nipped in to round the advanced keeper and angle home the opener. This was as good as it got for a Swindon team that was probably still suffering a bit from last Wednesday’s exploits that had seen Chester beaten 4-2 at the County Ground in front of 12k fans to confirm promotion.
Despite this slight setback the Championship was sealed the following weekend with a 1-1 draw at Mansfield.
Town:
Kenny Allen, Chris Ramsey, Dave Hockaday, Leigh Barnard, David Cole, Colin Calderwood, Peter Coyne, Charlie Henry, Dave Bamber, Bryan Wade, Chris Kamara.
Scunthorpe:
Paul Johnson, Billy Russell, Paul Longden, Steve Lister, Alan Whitehead, Les Hunter, Kevin Dixon, Steve Cammack, Keith Houchen, Dave Travis,
David Hill.
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