NATHAN Byrne handed Swindon the advantage in the first leg of the play-off semi finals as his injury time strike handed Town a 2-1 win over Sheffield United at Bramall Lane.

In a game which was dominated in large periods by the hosts Town rode their luck and got their rewards as they snatched the initiative heading back to Wiltshire.

Byrne picked up the ball and, when others may have headed to the corner flag to play out time, let fly with his shot nestling in the far corner of Mark Howard’s net in front of the travelling Town fans.

The hosts started brightly and took a deserved lead when Kieron Freeman turned his effort home after 17 minutes.

Swindon had the chance to go in level at half time but Ben Gladwin saw his penalty saved by Mark Howard in the 26th minute.

Sam Ricketts popped up with his first goal in a Town shirt to pull Swindon back level six minutes after the break and Swindon had to weather a large period of pressure before sneaking the late win.

Bramall Lane was bouncing prior to kick off and the noise level went up a notch as United came out of the blocks on fire, pressing Swindon at every chance.

Ryan Flynn made the first meaningful dart into the box after just two minutes but his cross was blocked at the near post before Jamie Murphy fired an early warning shot just wide of Wes Foderingham’s goal.

Gladwin, playing in his preferred role behind the front two, had the first real chance for the visitors when he wrong-footed Jay McEveley with a nice step-over but got caught in two minds which resulted in neither a shot nor a cross.

A couple of strong challenges from the hosts got the crowd even more on side and Gladwin was fortunate not to give away a penalty in the 11th minute when the ball appeared to strike his arm in the box from a Flynn cross but referee Darren Bond shook away protests.

Sheffield looked on top of the tie and were unlucky not to take the lead in the 15th minute when a ball from deep from Bob Harris narrowly missed the path of Steven Davies who only had Foderingham to beat.

The breakthrough did eventually come in the 17th minute down Swindon’s left which was being marshalled by Ricketts.

The ball was pulled back to Freeman, whose first time shot was just too much for Foderingham to get down to.

Despite the early pressure from the hosts Swindon were handed a life-line back into the game when Byrne, who had struggled in the early periods, was brought to the ground in the box by Harris in the 26th minute.

However Gladwin, who had looked so confident on penalty duty since taking over from Andy Williams, saw his effort to Howard’s right parried away as it failed to find the corner.

The hosts then had an appeal for a penalty themselves when Murphy went down under minimal contact from Stephens and the referee turned away appeals for a second time.

Swindon started to get a foot hold in the game as the half to an end with Hylton showing good speed to beat McEveley but Byrnes shot was well saved by Howard.

There was a different atmosphere after the break as Bramall Lane went quiet for the first time in the evening and Swindon capitalised.

Hylton earned a corner as his shot from the edge of the box was deflected and Byrne with the resulting corner was able to pick out Ricketts, whose bullet header sent the Town fans behind that goal crazy.

After the goal Swindon looked in control of the game as they showed the passing game that they have been notorious for through-out the campaign.

However the introduction of Matt Done with 15 minutes to go sparked life back into the hosts and Davies twice went close as he stung the palms of Foderingham with a shot from the edge of the box before seeing a header from three yards out go agonisingly wide of the post.

Swindon were able to withstand the late spell of pressure and with just a minute left of added time to be played Byrne picked up the ball and drove at the box before letting fly and finding the bottom corner to send more than 1,100 Swindon fans berserk and hand Swindon a fine margin heading into the second leg.

 

SHEFFIELD UTD: Howard, Harris, Brayford (C) (Scougall 45’ (Doyle 88’)), Basham, Flynn, Murphy, Coutts, McEveley, Freeman, Davies, Holt (Done 74’)

Unused Substitutes: Alcock, McNulty,Turner, Adams

SWINDON TOWN: Foderingham, Stephens, Thompson N (C), Turnbull, Byrne, Kasim, Luongo, Gladwin (Swift 68’), Ricketts, Smith (Obika 94’), Hylton (Williams 76’)

Unused substitutes: Belford C, Barthram, Marshall, Rodgers

Referee: Darren Bond

Attendance: 20,890 (1,179)