SWINDON Town were forced to come from behind to secure a point against League Two strugglers Northampton Town at the Energy Check County Ground after drawing 1-1. 

Phil Brown opted to make two changes for the game, Kyle Knoyle returned to his regular berth at right back, while Jermaine McGlashan was also reinstalled to the side.

Defender Luke Woolfenden retained his place despite being substituted at Crewe Alexandra, although that may be down to fellow loanee Sid Nelson being ruled out with a hip injury.

After not having much luck on Tuesday night, Swindon were almost handed a huge slice in the second minute of the game when Elijah Adebayo chased down the goalkeeper David Cornell.

The Town striker was hit with the visitors clearance and his deflection almost bounced in the ball before Cornell could gather.

Striker Marc Richards nearly handed Town a lead just a few minutes later, when he reacted quickest to Adebayo’s knock-down and improvised well to get an acrobatic effort on goal, only for Cornell to save.

James Dunne became the latest player to miss a chance, and in truth, he should have scored. A superb whipped ball in from Taylor found McGlashan and the winger chested it down to Dunne only for the midfielder to fire straight at the away keeper from close range.

After such a frenetic start, the game settled until Richards had another opportunity to break the deadlock.

McGlashan delivered a good ball in from the right, before a superb touch from Steven Alzate found Richards behind him, only for the striker to see his effort saved with 20 minutes on the clock.

Sam Hoskins nearly got the game’s opening goal when he left Taylor in his wake to bear down on goal, thankfully for Town McCormick stood tall and denied.

Despite the early excitement, neither team seemed to assert their authority on proceedings on a damp day at the Energy Check County Ground.

Matt Taylor hit a speculative shot towards goal in the dying moments of the first half, which flew high and wide, somewhat summing up the first instalment.

Five minutes after the restart, Richards had a decent opening has Dunne side footed the ball over the Northampton defence.

Richards, who was playing against his former side, opted to shoot first time and managed to clear the Town End with his effort.

On the hour mark, Keith Curle, who was appointed as manager at the start of the month, elected to bring Kevin Van Veen onto the game.

Moments later former Town man Andy Williams drew a good save out of McCormick, before the ball deflected out for a corner.

From the resulting corner, John-Joe O’Toole was on target for the Cobblers has he lashed a volley home to hand his side the lead.

Brown responded with two changes of his own as Scott Twine and Keshi Anderson were introduced in the place of McGlashan and Richards. The tactical change certainly upped the pace of the game from Swindon’s perspective, with Twine and Alzate both getting the ball in good areas.

However, as has been the case recently, Brown’s troops were unable to convert them into anything telling as Northampton dug their heels in.

As the pressure mounted, Northampton buckled when Anderson was hauled down at the end of the area, leaving Taylor to convert a trademark free-kick and equalise in the 72nd minute.

Swindon were unable to capatalise of the momentum that came with their leveller, Anderson continued to be a nuisance to the Cobblers, but the hosts couldn’t quite find a way through.