Birmingham City continued their assault on the First Division promotion
play-off zone with Martin Grainger in inspirational form as woeful Swindon
crashed to a 4-1 home defeat.
Grainger scored one goal and made two others in a one sided contest which
confirmed the inevitable but Swindon need a miracle to avoid relegation to
Division Two.
Grainger made goals for Darren Purse and Isaiah Rankin as Birmingham ran riot
in the first half with Dele Adebola also on target for Trevor Francis' side.
The only bright moment for Swindon came when Chris Hay scored with a quite
brilliant lobbed volley in the 12th minute which cancelled out Purse's opening
strike for the Blues.
Purse had opened the scoring with a simple header as Swindon's poor defending
let them down from a Grainger corner.
Hay latched on to a hopeful clearance from Scott Leitch two minutes later,
shipping the ball over Ian Bennett from a narrow angle to equalise for the home
side but it was not to be Swindon's afternoon.
More poor defending from Swindon allowed Rankin to beat goalkeeper Bart
Griemink before Adebola grabbed the third with ease in the 26th minute.
In the second half, Grainger got a reward for a fine performance by putting
his own name on the score sheet in calamitous circumstances for Swindon.
Grainger was perched over a free kick on the left hand corner of the penalty
box some 25 yards from goal when he spotted Griemink had left a large gap at his
near post.
The Birmingham player simply curled the shot into the net and the helpless
Swindon goalkeeper was left scrabbling in vain.
The result continued Swindon's dismal run, taking Jimmy Quinn's side a step
closer to relegation as they are now without a victory in 17 matches.
Hay, out of contract in the summer, also snatched a late consolation with
another well struck volley but his shot from long range dipped just over the
bar, although it had beaten Bennett in the Birmingham goal.
Teams
Swindon: Griemink, Hall, Davies, Reeves, A. Williams, Leitch, J. Williams (Griffin 46), Robinson, Davis, Hay, Cowe.
Subs Not Used: Talia, Willis, McAreavey, McHugh.
Booked: Hall.
Goals: Hay 13.
Birmingham: Bennett, Rowett, Holdsworth, Grainger, Hughes, O'Connor, Purse, Lazaridis (A. Johnson 68), Charlton, Adebola,Rankin.
Subs Not Used: Poole, Hyde, M. Johnson, Marcelo.
Booked: Grainger.
Goals: Purse 11, Rankin 21, Adebola 26, Grainger 74.
Att: 7,591
Ref: M Jones (Chester).
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