Fancy that!

Photo: Pictures by TERRY PARKER

Chris Taylor lashes home number two to seal victory.

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Swindon 0, Athletic 2 

Ginger prince makes it a royal day out for Latics
AS far as many people were concerned, last weekend’s big event was all about the grandeur of the clothes and the wonder at the sheer man-hours which had gone into such intricate and fantastic creations.

And decked in traditional fancy dress for the final away-day of the season, Athletic fans didn’t let

anybody down on their venture into Wiltshire.

Stewie from the television show Family Guy stood alongside a couple of fake sheikhs and enjoyed a right royal day out.

On days like that, the quality of football isn’t the be-all-and-end-all. Most won’t remember much about the game the following morning in any case.

But the superheroes, animals and US air pilots among the 295 travelling fans assembled at Swindon were treated to two goals of rare quality by their very own ginger prince.

Chris Taylor, back in Paul Dickov’s line-up after missing two games with a hamstring injury, described his first as the best goal he has ever scored.

Taking the ball just inside the half of already-relegated Town, the 24-year-old winger cut inside Matt Ritchie and advanced infield at pace before belting a howitzer of a shot beyond helpless Swindon ’keeper Phil Smith from 25 yards.

His second was nearly as good, this time displaying more cunning than brute force.

Again moving in from the left flank after picking up a loose ball, Taylor’s first attempt was blocked by a defender. His determination to claim the second ball was clear, shrugging off the attentions of Swindon left-back Michael Rose, keeping his balance and placing a bouncing shot beyond the dive of Smith into the far corner from the edge of the penalty area for an 11th goal of the season.

Thanks also to some smart goalkeeping from Dean Brill — plus one harum scarum moment when he let a back-pass slip under his foot, grateful to turn and see the ball end up three yards shy of the post — a very young Athletic side were worthy of their three points on a pleasant end-of-season afternoon.

There won’t be any commemorative plates made in honour of this game, which had little riding on it other than to present a chance for home manager Paul Bodin — appointed to the end of the season on the eve of the game following Swindon’s demotion to npower League Two — to assert his worth, while opposite number Dickov took the chance to blood his younger players.

Injuries also played a part in an Athletic starting line-up featuring five teenagers, one of whom — young Northern Irish winger Ryan Burns — was making a senior debut.

The 18-year-old showed some neat touches, particularly with one quick-footed turn before he went off shortly before the hour with sore calves.

Of the other scholars, James Tarkowski continues to grow into his role at centre-back and despite facing a tricky opponent in Ritchie, Carl Winchester at right-back did solid work and whipped in one terrific cross on a foray up the pitch.

Athletic’s front two of Reuben Reid and Warren Feeney did a decent job of holding the ball up despite battling a swirling wind, Aidan White was composed in his first start for the club as a left-back and Jean-Yves Mvoto went over and above the call of duty.

Taking a painful blow to the face in the first half, the big French centre-back was off the field for almost 10 minutes getting stitches put into the wound before emerging back onto the field.

At that stage, Athletic were a goal up.

Swindon had wasted a pair of chances prior to Taylor’s opener, Billy Bodin — son of boss Paul — pulling wastefully wide and defender Lescinel Jean-Francois heading straight at Brill from a corner.

On the quarter-hour came the big let-off for Athletic’s ’keeper as he failed to control the assured Jason Lowe’s back-pass, but after that — despite Mvoto’s lengthy absence — the home team failed to create anything, save for a penalty shout for an alleged push on Bodin by Winchester, as the opening period petered out.

Seven minutes after the restart, Brill made an excellent double-save.

First an off-balance Bodin found his back-post shot blocked at point-blank range off Ritchie’s cross, before Jon-Paul McGovern’s follow-up was stopped by the diving goalkeeper, who diverted the ball into the turf and behind for a corner.

Neal Trotman replaced Tarkowski shortly after that, likewise Ritchie Jones coming on for Burns.

Both teams continued trying to play and the next good chance again fell Swindon’s way.

This time the danger-ball came from the right wing, McGovern swinging in a left-footed cross after cutting back. And Brill made a superb fingertip save to prevent an accurate Ritchie header from going across him and inside the far post.

But Swindon’s bubble was burst two minutes later by Taylor’s second of the afternoon, putting him a goal in front of Dale Stephens as Athletic’s top scorer this term.

Paul Caddis hit a long-range shot straight at Brill and, at the other end, a bandaged Mvoto’s header was blocked by Smith at his near post as Athletic completed a league double over last season’s play-off finalists.