Town's last away match of the season ended in an undeserved  4-0 defeat after Duke and Fallon had been sent off in added time at the end of the first half and it was always going to be difficult for King's men to get anything from this game writes STFC Sports Reporter Adrian Smith.

Town kicked off without Steve Jenkins as he had been injured in the warm-up and this allowed Kyle Lapham to make his debut for Town and Alan Reeves joined the list of substitutes.

After withstanding some early pressure Town should have taken the lead in the 3^rd minute when Rory Fallon headed a cross from Christian Roberts towards goal but his header lacked power and Paul Rachubka was able to palm the ball around the post for a corner.

Danny Adams went close for the home side with an overhead kick after a corner but the ball flew just over the crossbar with Rhys Evans beaten in the 7^th minute.  Two minutes later Fallon again wasted an opportunity when he was put clear by a clever ball from Roberts and the big New Zealander's snap shot from twenty yards went wide of the right hand upright.

David Duke was cautioned in the 15^th minute for a foul on Chris Brandon who reacted angrily but the referee chose amazingly to ignore that although Town were able to clear the free-kick.

Two minutes later danger man Pawel Abbott went close with a looping shot from the edge of the area with Evans backpedalling and he would have been relieved to see the ball landed on the roof of the net.

Fallon was fouled thirty yards from goal in the 21^st minute and up stepped Grant Smith but his free-kick lacked any power and went wide of the upright although he appealed for a corner but referee Mr E Evans was not interested. Town had another free-kick on the halfway line when Pook was tripped and the ball was sent deep into the box but the home defence cleared the danger.

In the 25^th minute Grant Smith sent a superb ball forward for Igoe to chase and after controlling the ball, Igoe sent a shot in which was deflected for a corner and that was taken by Smith although Fallon's header lacked pace so it was easily cleared.

Sammy Igoe, Rory Fallon and Grant Smith combined well in attack for Town which saw Fallon's resulting shot strike a defender on the edge of the 6 yard box and rebound to safety as Andy King's men continued to dominate the half in a very subdued Galpharm Stadium.

Swindon born youngster Kyle Lapham showed some excellent composure in midfield as he beat a series of players to send the ball over the home defence for Roberts to chase but Rachubka charged off his line to clear the danger.

The referee angered the home crowd when he awarded a free-kick for a foul on Roberts who was also spoken to for his reaction but no yellow card was shown. Shortly afterwards Duke sent a useful looking cross from the left wing which was palmed over by the home keeper who chose to play safe although Town wasted the resulting corner.

Town were continuing to take the game to Huddersfield without seriously troubling the home keeper and at the other end the defence looked solid with debutant Lapham looking very comfortable with no hint of the drama which was to follow.

The referee Mr Evans took centre stage on the stroke of half-time when he cautioned two home players for preventing a free-kick on the halfway line and this ignited the anger of the home crowd.  In added time David Duke committed a minor foul and the referee wasted no time in showing a second yellow card and then a red to the unfortunate Duke. There was even more drama to come when Rory Fallon and David Mirfin competed for a header but Fallon's high kick poleaxed his opponent and once again the referee wasted no time in showing a red card to Fallon but the home player soon recovered.

Shortly afterwards the whistle was blown to end a half which Town had dominated but suddenly found themselves down to nine men after a minute of madness.

Half Time: Huddersfield Town 0 Swindon Town 0

Andy King responded at half-time by replacing Christian Roberts and Grant Smith with Andy Caton and Ben Wells who was making his debut for Town. The formation was shuffled to a 4-3-1 line-up with Andy Caton as an out and out striker as Town moved into 'damage limitation' mode by making the best use of the resources available.

The home team were trying to exploit the huge areas of space left as Town mounted a superb rearguard action for the first ten minutes of the match and the home crowd grew restless as Adnan Ahmed wasted a superb chance when his shot from the edge of the area flew wide under minimal pressure. Ahmed's afternoon got worse when he entered the referee's notebook for a foul on Lapham in the 58^th minute.

The home team replaced the limping Danny Schofield with Junior Mendes in the 61^st minute during a break in play when Town were awarded a free-kick which was wasted. One minute later Pawel Abbott scored his 25^th goal of the season with a rifled shot from the edge of the area despite Evans getting his fingers to the ball.

Chris Brandon went close for the home team in the 65^th minute with a rasping shot from 20 yards out on the right wing and a minute later Junior Mendes also went close with a shot which went just wide of the far post.

The home side appealed for a penalty in the 68^th minute when the ball struck Igoe on the hand but the referee waved play on. Huddersfield were struggling to break down the determined Town rearguard although there was an amazing escape after Ifil lost the ball in midfield and Abbott's mazy run into the box ended with him slotting the ball past Evans although it struck a defender and rebounded into Evans's hands!

Andy Caton had run himself ragged as Town's lone striker in the second half and was replaced by Ashan Holgate who was making his debut for Town in the 74^th minute. The substitute was desperately unlucky to be flagged offside when he outpaced the home defence and charged towards goal when it appeared that he had timed his run perfectly.

Four minutes later the home team doubled their lead when Brandon tricked his way into the box to send the ball over for Andy Booth and his first time shot went through a sea of legs and into the net with goalkeeper Evans unsighted.  The goalscorer was substituted immediately by John McAliskey and there was more drama two minutes later when one of the assistant referees ignored a blatant ball out of play and it was crossed for Abbott to score unchallenged with a fine volley and Rhys Evans made his feelings known to the referee but he had decided that enough cards had been shown for the afternoon. 

Rob Edwards entered the fray in the 82nd minute to replace Danny Adams and he made an impact two minutes later with a well taken goal as he steered a low shot to the right of Rhys Evans to put the home side four goals up.

Understandably the Town players were running out of steam after a valiant effort and their agony was prolonged as three minutes of added time were indicated but they managed to prevent any further goals being scored and at the final whistle they saluted the 303 away fans who had made the long journey north.

Andy King is now faced with selection dilemmas for next week's home game against Chesterfield with Rory Fallon and David Duke suspended so he will be hoping that Steve Jenkins and Sam Parkin's injuries will have cleared up in time so that Town can end the season on a winning note.

Match Summary:

Yellow Cards:   Huddersfield 3  Swindon Town 1 

Red Cards:        Huddersfield 0  Swindon Town 2

Swindon Town:

Rhys Evans, Matt Heywood (Capt), Jerel Ifil, David Duke, Sammy Igoe, Rory Fallon, Christian Roberts(Andy Caton 45)(Ashan Holgate 74), Michael Pook, Grant Smith(Ben Wells 45), Andy Nicholas, Kyle Lapham

Substitutes:

Steve Book, Alan Reeves

Referee:  Mr E Evans

Attendance: 13569  (303 from STFC)