Swindon Town were held on the road as they failed to finish their lunch in a 0-0 draw against Crewe Alexandra in League Two.

It was an opening 45 minutes of ebb and flow as both sides tried piecing together their shattered confidence after last weekend but with neither side finding the finishing touch.

The second half saw set pieces go close at both end of the ground but neither side was able to take advantage nor all three points.

Swindon’s wait for a first win of the season continues as they also fail to beat Crewe for the fifth time in a row, although the hosts have not scored on their own turf in seven.

Following on from the heavy defeat last time out, Mark Kennedy made one change in midfield as Jake Cain came in to replace Nnamdi Ofoborh in the hope of adding more thrust in the middle of the park.

In a clash of two sides coming off humbling home defeats last weekend, this game was always going to be one about resilience and who got over the disappointment quickest. With Crewe’s home record an anvil around their necks and the general malaise at Swindon, it had the makings of a classic League Two slugfest and so it proved in the first half.

As the players trudged out, the Heavens opened in a very fitting piece of pathetic fallacy for the moods of the two clubs at kick-off.

The opening stages were as expected with both teams looking to assert themselves with long balls, praying for luck to be on their side with the bounce. The tirade of Mickey Demetriou long throws started after just two minutes, only adding to the aerial bombardment both sides had initiated.

It was a game of two teams playing the percentages and hoping to hit on black. Jeff King and Harry Smith both had early sighters at one end from outside the box and Crewe’s set pieces looked menacing each time they were whipped under the crossbar.

Swindon had the first real moment of quality in the game on the counter as Paul Glatzel’s one-touch pass to Cain allowed him to play Harry Smith in down the left. He dropped the ball back to King to swing a cross in for Ollie Clarke. He got away from the defender but prodded wide when he looked certain to score.

That chance and the storm clouds overhead passing seemed to drag something out of Kennedy’s side. They appeared happier retaining possession and building chances rather than hurrying the ball away from their own goal.

After 39 minutes King played the ball back to Will Wright for a first-time ball into the back post for Smith to nod home, only for the referee to disallow it for the striker having his hands in Demetriou’s back.

Two minutes later there was another big chance as the two former Liverpool youngsters combined with Cain flicking a header through for Glatzel. He rolled his marker and took the shot early but sliced it off the outside of his boot and hopelessly wide.

The first half ended goalless with both sides probably being pleased not to have added to their despair, but with Town in particular frustrated not to have taken some of their big chances.

Three corners and a long throw that saw Clarke’s shot blocked within a minute of the restart had Town back on the front foot in search of the opening goal.

After an hour it was a long throw at the other end that nearly got the scoring going as again Demetriou hurled the ball into the heart of the box, a ricochet took it to Joel Tabiner and a great block from Freckleton was enough to deny him.

Kennedy looked to shake things up as Ofoborh and Aaron Drinan replaced Clarke and Glatzel midway through the half as Crewe had seemed to take the early impetus away from Town.

Having swapped sides after Tunmise Sobowale’s introduction, King cut onto his right and swung a ball in that looked to be creeping inside the far post before Filip Marschall palmed it to safety.

But once again there was no verve or energy about Swindon’s display with large periods drifting by without any sense that the team were working towards finding the back of the net.

Against a side looking as bereft of ideas as themselves, they were able to pick up their first clean sheet of the campaign and bounce back from the defensive nightmare last time out. But this never felt like a true test of their defensive capabilities with the Railwaymen looking to prey off dead balls and defensive slip-ups.

Having dropped mistakes all over their own ground last week, Swindon seemed more preoccupied with not allowing the same to happen again than with taking the risk that might have produced that confidence-boosting win.

CAFC starting XI: Marschall, Knight-Lebel, Williams, Demetriou, Sanders, Thomas, Tabiner, Lankester, Hemmings, Conway, Billington.

CAFC substitutes: Cooney, Long, Holicek, Connolly, Lunt, Finney.

STFC starting XI: Bycroft, Wright, Cotterill, Clarke, Glatzel, Smith, Longelo, Cain, King, Freckleton, Hall.

STFC substitutes: Evans, Sobowale, Ofoborh, Drinan, Minturn, Kirkman, Mitchell.

Attendance: 4,402 (407 away).