Ian Holloway could not believe what “The Swindon Messi” Danny Butterworth did as he scored a wonderful goal to get Swindon Town a draw at Accrington Stanley.

With Swindon behind and having had just two attempts all match and not had a shot since Paul Glatzel headed over in the 41st minute, Butterworth took over.

With 69 minutes on the clock, the 25-year-old picked the ball up on the left touchline just inside the Accrington half and played a one-two with Glatzel, who returned his pass with a fabulous backheel.

 

 

With a first touch that took him into space between the lines, Butterworth then jinked inside Farrend Rawson, Nelson Khumbeni looked to fill in behind his centre back but the Swindon man’s close control took him away from him as well.

Zach Awe then came in looking to block the shot from the edge of the area with a sliding challenge but again Butterworth was not perturbed and feigned to shoot and went beyond him as well before steadying himself and rolling the ball in the bottom corner.

The quality of the goal has seen it circulating around social media, with the likes of Sky Sports, as well as accounts in Poland and Turkey sharing the strike.

After the match, Holloway was brimming with excitement by what he had seen from Butterworth, likening his goal to something from Lionel Messi with the way he wove his way between Accrington defenders.

He said: “Wow, what a goal. The Swindon Messi, that is what the lads are calling him. It warmed my heart because he deserved it.

“He dribbled and he ran and I don’t know how many people he fooled there but wow and then drove it right into the bottom corner.

“If you told me at half time ‘Don’t panic because you are going to score a goal like Lionel Messi would score and you might be on top by the end of it’ then I would have taken that.”

Adding to club media: “Danny Butterworth is someone that I don’t want to take out of the team, I am not being funny but as good of a goal as I have seen in a long, long time.

“Fantastic ability, fantastic skill and we have got that in abundance in the group.

“What we need to do is make sure that the basics that we do everywhere are as good as the unbelievable bits that Danny can do.”