Wasteful Under-21s bow out of Bristol Street Motors Trophy

Our Under-21s' involvement in this season's Bristol Street Motors Trophy came to a disappointing end at Swindon Town on Tuesday night.

We went to The County Ground knowing only a win would see us leapfrog the League Two hosts and qualify for the knockout stages, and we looked good value to do just that after Tyrese Hall slid us into a first-half lead.

But we were guilty of missing a handful of good chances to extend our advantage and paid the price when Ian Holloway's men turned the game around through Danny Butterworth and Sean McGurk in the second period. The 2-1 win for the Robins enabled them to hold onto the runners-up spot in Southern Group G, thus eliminating us from the competition.

Town made wholesale changes from their weekend win over Colchester United in the FA Cup while we gave an Under-21s debut to 17-year-old Under-18s captain Sam Archer in goal and he played with character and confidence over the 90 minutes, belying his tender age.

Jake Cain flashed an early shot wide for Swindon while the lively Leo Black did well to work himself into a shooting position for us, but his effort was comfortable for Dan Barden in the home goal. Max Robson later made a good clearance from Rosaire Longelo's cross, Archer with a brave intervention on the follow-up, and our hard work against the older opposition was subsequently rewarded on the 25-minute mark when Yusuf Akhamrich delivered an inviting in-swinging cross from the right flank and Hall was one of three men arriving at the far post to slot home. Damola Ajayi and Robson went close as we continued on the front foot, but Cain reminded us of Swindon's threats when he lined up a shot from the edge of the box, which whistled just wide.

A big chance to double our lead went begging two minutes after half-time, Hall getting to the byline and squaring for Ajayi in the middle of the box but Barden blocked his shot at close quarters. McGurk thought he'd equalised moments later, but his rasping drive from distance was somehow touched onto the crossbar by Archer, before we squandered another opportunity when we pushed forward in numbers on the counter-attack, but Akhamrich's wayward pass simply trickled through to Barden instead of finding either of our players up in support and the chance evaporated.

Town took advantage and levelled in the 54th minute when Butterworth finished off a slick passing move by rifling into the net from a tight angle on the left, but again we were left kicking ourselves for not scoring a little while later when the unmarked Hall failed to connect with a header from Ajayi's cross six yards out - a huge let-off for the Robins.

We were duly punished once more with 16 minutes to go as a cross wasn't properly dealt with and McGurk looped an effort over Archer from the left side and into the far corner of the net to give his team the lead. Swindon managed to hold onto possession for longer periods to see out the game, with Archer again needed to stamp out an attack from Paul Glatzel in the latter stages. The result saw us finish third in our group with two points from our three matches.

Match data

Goals: Swindon Town - Butterworth 54, McGurk 74; Spurs - Tyrese Hall 25.

Yellow card: Spurs - Kyerematen 57.

Referee: Matthew Russell.

Venue: The County Ground, Swindon.

Weather: Light winds, misty, 11 degrees.

Attendance: 1,816.