Another night of drama

Fans could be forgiven for feeling sea-sick the number of ups and downs they experience during 90 minutes at the County Ground.

Exciting stuff it certainly is, spirited stuff also. But it is also frustrating beyond belief.

This was yet another game where Swindon created the best chances and looked the more dangerous side.

However, sloppy mistakes, a lack of concentration and some shoddy decision making once again left Town without the three points they deserved.

When they are good, they can be devastating. However, when they are bad they can seem comical.

There was certainly something of a joke start to the proceedings last night as Wrexham took the lead within the opening 17 seconds.

Andy King had accepted the Town manager's job prior to the match and was just taking his seat when the visitors scored one of the fastest goals ever seen at the County Ground. The silly thing is that it was Town who actually kicked off the game.

It was Mark Robinson's miss-placed pass which set the Welshmen on the break and within a matter of seconds they had split the Town defence apart. Martyn Chalk slipped in ahead of Antoine van der Linden to clip the ball past Bart Griemink with the outside of his right boot.

The County Ground was stunned into silence. They had cheered a last minute goal on Saturday but a first minute strike at the same end just days later had left them cold.

It had rather shocked the players as well who within a minute had found themselves kicking off for the second time of asking.

Maybe in previous weeks and with previous teams it would have been the spark for a Town collapse.

Not under Andy King, who, it seems, has instilled a new battling spirit into his troops.

The players have displayed character in abundance as they try to pull clear of the lower reaches of Division Two.

There is no doubt that their performances earned King the job and he was true to his word when he said everyone would be repaid by keeping their place in his side.

And after recovering from the early body-blow they once again started to show there is the makings of a decent football team starting to develop at the County Ground.

King will tell you all his players are important and how he does not wish for too much praise to be heaped on any one or any few individuals.

However, it is hard to ignore the personal attributes of Danny Invincible and Ian Woan.

Invincible has the pace and skill to hurt teams and Woan, who

doesn't quite have the same pace, lets the ball do all the work with his cultured left foot. When in the mood, Invincible is fantastic to watch.

In the seventh minute he picked up a Bobby Howe pass with his back to goal and with 40 yards between him and Wrexham keeper Kevin Dearden.

In a flash his first touch had sent him past his marker and racing in on goal. Skipping past one, two, three defenders, he then dinked a delicate chip over the advancing Dearden that dropped agonisingly wide of the mark. It was brilliant.

Two minutes later he was at it again. This time Sol Davis played him in and as he bore down on goal he was unceremoniously bundled to the ground by Emad Bouanane with referee Paul Danson waving away any penalty claims.

Woan, meanwhile, was doing what he is good at picking up the pieces in midfield and linking the defence to the hard working front two of Invincible and Martin Williams.

He simply makes use of every ball.

And it was the former Nottingham Forest man who created Town's equaliser just after the half hour.

His ball out to Williams on the right set the striker clear and he did well to lob it back across goal, over the head of Dearden and into the path of Invincible who bundled the ball into the net despite the attentions of Paul Mardon.

It was the Australian's seventh of the season and his fifth in four games since King took charge.

The same combination almost reaped further rewards just before the break when Woan fed Invincible down the left. His trickery got him past three defenders before he squared it to Williams in space. Unfortunately, the front man fluffed his shot and the teams went in level at the break.

Town almost repaid Wrexham with a taste of their own medicine in the second half as Williams fired a spectacular overhead kick goalward after only 39 seconds but Dearden made a good save.

Woan tried his luck with a low bouncing effort that Dearden just managed to palm away and then Howe tried his luck but the keeper once again kept it out.

At the other end Bouanane had a glorious chance to restore Wrexham's lead when he worked his way into the area but fired high over the bar.

It was a warning that Town did not heed and against the run of play the visitors did find their second in the 68th minute.

Carlos Edwards managed, through luck, bad defending and a touch of skill, to beat three tackles before shooting low under Griemink.

Now there was yet another test laid before King's men. And once again they did not disappoint.

Just six minutes later they got the break they deserved. Van der Linden was sent crashing to the floor and this time Danson pointed to the spot.

Keith O'Halloran took responsibility and he calmly slotted it away, high into the right corner of the net.

It was another fightback and it could even have been better when a sublime Woan pass set Davis clear for a shooting chance on the left but his fiercely struck effort was deflected past the post by the narrowest of margins.

Sick bags please. Ding-ding, ride terminates here . . . for another week.