Basingstoke Town 1 Swindon Town 3

BASINGSTOKE Town paid for a tired final 10 minutes which resulted in two conceded goals and defeat in this pre-season friendly at the Camrose on Tuesday night, writes Graeme Hamlett.

For 20 minutes in the second half Town were dominant, playing some lovely football and making Swindon look as ordinary as they had made Basingstoke look for much of the first half.

Andy King's Nationwide division two side had an assured opening 45 minutes, with Grazioli and Eric Sabin forcing the Town defence on the back foot.

It was no surprise when the lively and pacy French forward Sabin rifled home into the top right corner past Scott Tarr on 29 minutes but the score stayed 1-0 at half-time.

Town began the second half sharply, Rob Cook having a 25-yard shot tipped on to the bar and over for a corner.

Then, on 51 minutes, Richard Newbery fired into the bottom right corner to equalise after Cook had made a nuisance of himself following Davis' cross from the flank.

As Town pressed, four minutes later, Newbery was shoved in the back by Reeves, leaving the referee no option but to award a penalty. However, Sean Gorman fired wide and the miss allowed Swindon back into the match.

Robins substitute and trialist Emad Bouanane scored with what was an intended cross on 76 minutes, floating the ball over Tarr from the left edge of the box.

And it became 3-1 on 83 minutes when Grazioli had time in the box to bring the ball down and fire in a volley past Tarr, who moments later stopped the same player with a great save with his feet.

Town manager Ernie Howe said: "I didn't think we did ourselves justice in the first half and gave the ball away very cheaply. We got the goal and, if we'd scored the penalty, I'm sure it would have been a different outcome.

"They took the lead with a sloppy goal, a cross-cum-shot and our heads went down then. I am sure there were a few players who were disappointed with their performances."

Basingstoke Town: Scott Tarr, Mike Davis (sub Steve Baker 75min), Matt Elverson (sub Dominic Naylor 45min), Chris Honor, Paul Wilkinson, Mark Lisk, Stuart Girdler (sub Toby Sumner 60min), Jimmy Fraser (sub Glenn Howes 60min), Richard Newbery, Sean Gorman (sub Clint Bassett 78min), Rob Cook. Swindon Town: Bart Grieninck, Matt Hewlett, Andrew Gurney, Keith O'Halloran, Bobby Howe, Guiliano Grazioli, David Duke (sub Emad Bouanane 60min), Eric Sabin, Danny Invincible, Matthew Heywood, Alan Reeves.