Swindon Town 11 straight Carabao Cup defeats at Crawley Town

The match was very evenly matched in the first half with both sides suffocating each other with the press but Ade Adeyemo’s strike was the difference before Jack Roles’ second-half stunner appeared to put it beyond reach.

But a mad five minutes saw Nnamdi Ofoborh hand Town a lifeline before Will Wright had a penalty saved and Harry Smith nodded in the equaliser straight after, but Roles and Rafiq Khaleel both struck late to see Town out again.

A 2-1 victory at Luton Town in 2014 remains Swindon’s most recent in the competition that provided the club’s finest day.

Mark Kennedy backed up his insistence that he would be going all-out for the win here with just three changes to the line-up from Chesterfield. Paul Glatzel came in alongside Jake Cain and Tunmise Sobowale as Wright was handed the captain’s armband against his former team.

Having been slow out of the blocks on Friday night, Swindon were making no such mistake in this one. They pressed aggressively from the first whistle and that seemed to unsettle Crawley. Within a minute Glatzel won the ball high and Ofoborh was an inch from playing Cain in on goal.

Scott Lindsey had to rebuild his promotion-winning side in the summer and with Swindon giving them no time on the ball, they seemed like a team getting to grips with things.

With both teams defending diligently, neither side were creating with much freedom. It took 15 minutes for the first real opening as a Jeremy Kelly free kick was nodded into the six-yard box and with two players bearing down on him Jack Bycroft had to punch the ball over the crossbar.

Swindon almost struck with a free kick of their own as Jeff King cleverly played Aaron Drinan down the side of the box. He fired across the face of goal but marginally too far ahead of the runners in the middle.

The Swindon high press was a real weapon and produced a huge chance as King nicked the ball back on the corner of the box, passed to Ofoborh, who then slipped Glatzel in. He used his body well to open up space but uncharacteristically dragged his shot wide of the near post.

The Red Devils were ruthless when the time came as they won the ball off a Swindon throw and got Adeyemo in down the left side of the box and his drilled effort squirmed beyond Bycroft at the near post.

There was a lot to like about the Swindon performance in the first half but it felt like grabbing at something just beyond your reach. A lot about it was right but it didn’t look like it would get the result you want.

The second half began at a furious pace with Cain and Joel Cotterill both having early efforts that went behind for corners before Khaleel came up the other end and forced a save from Bycroft.

Nine minutes into the second period there was a moment of brilliance as Jack Roles took aim from way downtown and slammed a stunning effort into the top corner of the net. It was a long way back for Swindon now.

With things looking bleak, it was cometh the hour cometh the man as Swindon won the ball high and quickly found Ofoborh in space to emphatically dispatch the goal after 60 minutes.

Kennedy made a triple substitution straight after the goal and the miracle was on.

Swindon won a penalty for a handball three minutes later. Jojo Wollacott won the battle of ex-players making a spectacular save from Will Wright but it was only a brief reprieve as one of those changes Smith nodded from the resulting corner.

Scott Lindsey and Kennedy both continued to freshen things up from the bench in search of a winner. The Crawley noise incessant as they tried to guide their team out of a trance.

But the energy remained with Swindon and Wollacott continued to perform his heroics to keep it level as King’s cross ended at the feet of Dylan Mitchell and with his shot destined for the bottom corner, the Ghanaian international flung himself across to save.

The former Swindon goalkeeper was again called upon as Wright whipped a free kick to his side outside the box and he got down to beat it away and just too high for Glatzel to head the rebound on target.

With Swindon pushing hard and looking the more likely, it was another magical Roles strike that sunk the ship in the 88th minute before Khaleel fired in a fourth to make the scoreline more one-sided than it was in reality.

CTFC starting XI: Wollacott, Bragg, Anderson, Roles, Camara, Kelly, Mukena, Adeyemo, Mullarkey, Khaleel, Flint.

CTFC substitutes: Beach, Barker, Darcy, Hepburn-Murphy, Quiritana, Papadopoulos, Malone.

STFC starting XI: Bycroft, Sobowale, Wright, Ofoborh, Cotterill, Glatzel, Longelo, Cain, King, Freckleton, Drinan.

STFC substitutes: Evans, Clarke, Smith, Hall, Minturn, McGregor, Kirkman, Brown, Mitchell.