RUTHLESS STREAK

Photo: Pictures by ALAN HOWARTH

SPOT ON . . . Dale Stephens clinches victory with a sweet penalty kick before being congratulated by Dean Furman.

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Athletic 2, Swindon 0

FOOTBALL matches like this one boil down to key moments.

The two teams which met at Boundary Park were so evenly matched that you could barely get a cigarette paper between them in terms of ability.

Swindon, who came into the fixture with burgeoning confidence thanks to a 4-2 away-day thumping of Charlton, fancied their chances against what had appeared to be a rickety Athletic defence.

Charlie Austin, scorer of 17 goals already this season, will certainly have been licking his lips at what lay in store after watching Paul Dickov’s side conceded six times in their last two defeats against Hartlepool and Rochdale.

But while the visitors had plenty of possession throughout the game at Boundary Park, Athletic had the knowhow to keep Austin – and the rest of Town manager Danny Wilson’s attacking threats – at bay.

Captain Reuben Hazell has come in for plenty of stick after his errors contributed to the derby-day defeat.

But here he was almost as imperious as his fellow centre-half Neal Trotman, who worked every sinew in his body to preserve a clean sheet.

At the opposite end of the field, Athletic’s management often state their belief that they will create scoring chances in matches.

Two decent ones came along. First, Chris Taylor capitalised on a half-clearance to curl a lovely right-footed shot beyond goalkeeper Phil Smith, who was rooted to the spot.

And Austin’s clear handball in his own area enabled top scorer Dale Stephens to power home a penalty for his seventh goal of the season as time ran out.

Seconds before that, Swindon’s former Stockport left-back Michael Rose struck a sweet free-kick which bounced back off a post with new ’keeper Ben Amos beaten.

It proved that in this tightest of divisions, a few inches here and an extra helping of concentration there can separate winners from losers.

Athletic fans can now look up at the play-off places with optimism, rather than glancing further down the table in trepidation.

Dickov made two enforced changes to the team beaten 2-1 at home by Rochdale, with Cedric Evina replacing Aidan White on the wing and Neal Trotman in for fellow injured loan man Jean-Yves Mvoto in central defence.

Austin blasted a speculative effort high and wide before Taylor’s opening goal, which came about through enterprising play from Evina and Felipe Morais.

The on-loan Arsenal player used his pace to stretch Swindon down centre-field and fed Morais on the right.

The Portugal-born wide man – who enjoyed a good afternoon, showcasing his fellow countryman’s ‘Ronaldo Chop’ and other assorted ball skills – dinked a cross to the far post which was headed away by Paul Caddis but only as far as Taylor, who did the rest in style to bag a sixth goal of an increasingly-excellent personal campaign.

Austin tested Amos low down after a slip by Dean Furman, but opportunities at goal were at a premium in the first half.

Athletic’s bright start was dimmed by Swindon’s careful possession which left the home side on the look-out for a quick counter-attack.

Some attractive attacking play by men-of-the-moment Taylor and Morais led to Oumare Tounkara having a shot well blocked inside the area by Caddis before Kieran Lee was shown a yellow card for diving inside the penalty area.

Amos made his first and only error when arriving second to Rose’s cross from a free-kick, though Sean Morrison failed to direct his headed attempt anywhere near the target.

Evina burst forward again before half-time and had a shot blocked, while Morais got stuck into his defensive duties by pulling off a good tackle on David Prutton as the former Leeds midfielder wove his way into the area.

The second half started as the first had ended, with Swindon in charge of the ball yet also looking vulnerable to a swift break by the home team.

Morrison produced an excellent block on Tounkara as the big man – who continues to excel at holding the ball up, without quite looking like a natural-born goal scorer – readied to pull the trigger.

And after a series of crosses rained down on the Athletic area, another burst forward from Taylor ended with his shot clipping Morrison’s heels and looping behind.

Trotman was forced to pull off an exemplary tackle on Alan O’Brien as he raced down the left flank and into the area, while substitute David Ball had Amos blocking at his near post as he tried an ambitious shot from the narrowest of angles.

The new ’keeper then had his work cut out to athletically tip around Ritchie’s powerful drive, the visitors’ best effort of the game from open play.

More good defensive work from Trotman denied Austin a stab at goal as the on-loan Preston player flicked the ball away from the arch-poacher with his head from a Prutton cross.

Taylor had another shot deflected off target and when Furman brought down Ball, Rose was unlucky to see a great strike hit the far post and come back out.

The rub of the green wasn’t with Swindon, though Athletic were the sprightlier going forward.

Morais showed more trickery to weave his way into a shooting position and hit a right-footed effort which was beaten behind by Smith low at his near post.

From the resulting Stephens corner, Austin inexplicably stuck his arm up and made contact with the ball.

And Stephens stepped up to strike a terrific spot-kick into the top left corner to leave Smith – and Swindon – with no chance.