Swindon's 10-goal epic with Sheffield United was 'torture' for manager Mark Cooper
Tuesday 12 May 2015 09:34, UK
Swindon manager Mark Cooper insists the 7-6 aggregate League 1 play-off semi-final win over Sheffield United was “torture”.
The Robins drew 5-5 on the night in a topsy-turvy encounter that saw them 3-0 up within 18 minutes, with five goals in each half contributing to the highest-scoring play-off game in history.
Despite the win, Cooper says his side have a lot of work to do if they are to beat Preston on May 24 at Wembley and reach the second tier of English football for the first time since 2000.
Asked if he enjoyed the thriller, Cooper told Sky Sports: “Not at all. Not one minute. I can honestly say that's the worst game of football I've ever been through in terms of feelings. Incredible.
“[It was] torture. I enjoyed the first however many minutes when we were 3-0 up.
“We started brilliantly, and then our defending after that left a lot to be desired.
“We've got a lot of work to do, but we're pleased to be through. Full credit to Sheffield United, [they] came and made a good game of it.”
Cooper insists he only thought the tie was won when Jonathan Obika scored to make it 5-3 on the night and 7-4 on aggregate with just six minutes remaining.
Sheffield United then scored twice in three minutes to get to within one goal of levelling the tie, but Swindon held out during a nervy nine-minute stoppage time period to reach the final.
“I felt three goals up on aggregate when Obika scored, I thought that was it, and then straight away every time they came near our box they seemed to score, which is ridiculous for us.
“Like I say there is a lot of work to be done, but we've got two weeks to do it.”
Live League One Play-Off Final
Sheffield United boss Nigel Clough praised his side's character in coming back on more than one occasion, and says his side had enough chances to win the tie.
"To go 3-0 up and come back the way we did shows immense amount of character and spirit.
"I think over the course of the two games we've had enough chances to win four matches.
"We've had a lot of highs, and a lot of lows [this season], but this is probably the biggest low we've had."
