Swindon Town drew 1-1 with Crawley Town in League Two

Swindon started on the front foot on home soil but soon lost their way as Crawley went ahead via a controversial penalty award near the end of the first half which was put away by Jack Powell.

In a game where the hosts performed at well below their best, Swindon scored a scrappy injury-time goal through Jayden Mitchell-Lawson to remain in the League Two play-offs.

Post-match, Louis Reed was shown a straight red card by referee, Carl Brook for dissent.

Swindon made three changes to the side that drew 1-1 with nine-man Colchester United on Saturday.

Akin Odimayo, Jonny Williams, and Louis Reed made way for debutant Brandon Cooper, and the central midfield pairing of Ben Gladwin and Ryan East.

There was a home debut for Josh Davison, however, other new signing Louie Barry had to make do with a place on the bench while deadline-day arrival, Joe Tomlinson, missed out altogether.

Swindon began really brightly on home soil and hit the target inside the first minute. Harry McKirdy chipped a cross to the back post from deep down the left, and Ben Gladwin saw his volleyed effort cleared off the line by goalkeeper Glenn Morris.

The intense start by Garner’s men continued as Tony Craig was forced to awkwardly turn wide of his own post when clearing Ellis Iandolo’s low shot. From the resulting corner, Jake O’Brien tamely nodded at the goalkeeper as Swindon tried to keep the corner alive.

Iandolo curled wide from range with his right in the 14th minute, and Davison went on to waste a couple of excellent chances midway through the opening half.

First, a clever dummied leave by McKirdy on the edge of the box put the Charlton loanee through, but Davison's touch was too heavy and Crawley recovered.

Moments later, McKirdy dinked a deep cross over to Rob Hunt who headed back into the middle for Davison. The loanee swivelled and shot left-footed, but it sailed wide.

The Red Devils came back into the game though and certainly ended the first half with the upper hand.

Tom Nichols almost lobbed Jojo Wollacott via a quick free-kick before going close once again shortly after. Dion Conroy gave the ball away inside his own half, and Nichols was denied just inside the box through a good low save.

Moments later, the Swindon stopper had to be alert as Crawley's Jack Payne volleyed powerfully at goal - Wollacott beat it away well.

Five minutes before the break, the opening goal did come, and in controversial circumstances. Seconds after the referee had warned Jordan Lyden about an altercation with his marker at a corner, the midfielder was adjudged to have tripped James Tilley in the box and a penalty was awarded.

Jack Powell stepped up and sent Wollacott the wrong way from the spot, placing his spot-kick to the right as Crawley entered the break ahead.

Garner’s men came out at half-time with a renewed sense of urgency, however, that desire to do things more quickly morphed into panic and the hosts lost all control they often showed in the first 45.

Only off-target efforts from McKirdy, Iandolo, and half-time substitute Louie Barry punctuated a frustrating first 15 minutes of the second half.

Garner attempted to inject some life into Town’s struggling midfield by throwing on Jonny Williams instead of East, but only further mis-directed shots were produced from the likes of Gladwin and McKirdy.

Crawley’s Tilley blasted narrowly over on a breakaway too, with the visitors remaining dangerous on the counter-attack midway through the second half.

With 20 minutes remaining, the hard-working McKirdy collected a loose ball in the final third before scurrying across the Crawley back line and shooting goalwards. As was often the case with Swindon’s final product though, it did not test Morris particularly with the stopper collecting down low.

Swindon continued to knock at the Crawley door, but there were very few chances being created at all, let alone clear-cut ones.

With five minutes remaining, McKirdy went down inside the box off the ball under the challenge of Tony Craig. However, the referee waved play on with the situation appearing vey similar to the one in which the Red Devils received a spot-kick at the end of the first half.

Williams – who was sent on supposedly to change the game in Swindon’s favour – cut in from the left late on before dragging a tame shot wide as frustration grew further.

But deep into five minutes of added time, substitute Mitchell-Lawson inadvertently deflected a Gladwin strike past Morris to rescue a point Swindon barely deserved.

However, after the full-time whistle had gone, substitute Louis Reed – who played no part in the game – was shown a straight red card for dissent.

STFC starting XI: Wollacott, Iandolo, Conroy, Gladwin, Lyden, Davison, McKirdy, Cooper, O'Brien, Hunt, East.

SUBS: Ward, Odimayo, Mitchell-Lawson, Barry, Reed, Aguiar, Williams.

CTFC starting XI: Morris, Davies, Tunnicliffe, Craig, Tsaroulla, Tilley, Powell, Payne, Nichols, Grego-Cox, Nadesan.

SUBS: Seymour, Gallacher, Francillette, Frost, Matthews, Marshall.