Swindon Town’s unbeaten home run continued even if they were twice pegged back in a 2-2 draw against Salford City.
Tom Nichols scored his first Swindon goal to give them a heavily-deserved lead after a strong start before Salford muscled their way back into proceedings and were rewarded through Hakeeb Adelakun.
Harry Smith ended his brief goal drought to put Town back in front but Kelly N’Mai responded straight away to earn a draw.
Swindon are now nine League Two matches without defeat on their own territory and have slightly closed the gap down to ten points to the top seven.
Ian Holloway only made one change and it was the one he was forced into making because of Ollie Clarke’s suspension. Ryan Delaney, who was rested at the weekend, was comfortable enough that he was thrust straight back in from the start.
The fear of Harry Smith among League Two defences took 30 seconds to be realised. A long ball up saw Stephen Negru all over him, so the striker dummied the ball to let it bounce for Nichols. He prodded the ball wide for Joel Cotterill and he had Kabongo Tshimanga and Smith across, only for the ball to be behind the pair of them.
In what felt like a sequence from Sam Allardyce’s dream, in the third minute a long ball bounced over to set Tshimanga through. He blasted a shot low, and Jamie Jones got a thigh in front of it, Miguel Freckleton got to the rebound but again the goalkeeper was in place.
The superlative football continued as Joel McGregor sized up Kelly N’Mai down the right and won a corner. Will Wright delivered it into the middle and the ball dropped perfectly for Nichols to rifle an effort beyond the defenders on the line.
Having nudged them so many times in the opening stages and slapping Salford with an early goal, they finally woke up. Swindon had been playing at a rapid tempo anyway, but The Ammies quickly matched them, and the ball pinged about like a game of Pong had been sped up.
This was not quite being borne out through chances, Kelly N’Mai’s tame volley and a mishit cross from Rosaire Longelo were the only times Connor Ripley got called into action.
That was until the 27th minute when Longelo once again faced up to Freckleton and ghosted beyond him. He tried to aim in a low cross, only for that to flick off a shin and deflect straight into the path of Adelakun, who drilled a shot straight into the bottom corner.
With the vice grip over the match of the opening 15 minutes being slowly loosened, Holloway acted and swapped Cotterill out to play left wing-back and matched Salford up with their three at the back.
But the steam was building for the team in white and their play was becoming increasingly contrived and yet ever more effective. Adelakun toyed with Town down the left side of the box and rolled the ball across goal for Longelo one yard out, yet somehow, he missed the target entirely. Presumably a thank you for allowing him to depart without a fee in January.
Straight after the break, Wright hurled a long throw into the box and it bounced over those in the middle to Tshimanga unmarked at the back post. He looked to stretch to get something on it and slipped just as he was about to turn the ball beyond Jones.
Set pieces seemed to be the way to go for Swindon as another long throw came to Nichols only for his shot to be blocked, a corner bounced into Nnamdi Ofoborh before he lost his footing, and after a free kick had broken down, Ryan Delaney forced Jones into a save from McGregor’s cross.
The half chances were really starting to stack up for Swindon as Jones was kept busy between the sticks. Smith’s curling effort was turned around the post by the goalkeeper and he also denied Delaney after a corner had been headed into the defender’s path.
That eventually paid off as, straight after a quadruple substitution, great play down the left saw Danny Butterworth pick out Paul Glatzel. He was off balance and scuffed his shot, fortunately it came straight to Smith and he did what he always does.
A double substitution for Salford produced the exact same result straight away. Tyrese Fornah came on and smacked a shot against the post, which ricocheted straight to N’Mai for a simple tap in leveller.
Having said that a draw would be no good, Holloway was prepared to die on that sword as Botan Ameen replaced Ryan Delaney for the final ten minutes. A thrilling finale saw both teams state a good case to win it, only neither swayed the scoreboard.
STFC starting XI: Ripley, Delaney, Wright, Ofoborh, Cotterill, Smith, Nichols, Kilkenny, Freckleton, Tshimanga, McGregor.
STFC substitutes: Bycroft, Sobowale, Glatzel, Cain, Butterworth, Westley, Ameen.
SCFC starting XI: Jones, Berkoe, Negru, Watson, N’Mai, Woodburn, Mnoga, Longelo, Warrington, Adelakun, Okoronkwo.
SCFC substitutes: Young, Edwards, Fornah, Lund, Taylor, Austerfield, Wright.
Attendance: 6,465 (29 away).
