ON-THE-WHISTLE MATCH REPORT: Swindon Town 0-0 Oxford United (Swindon win 3-1 on penalties)

A much-changed Swindon side needed penalties to beat fierce rivals Oxford United, despite Alex Macdonald's red card for the visitors in the first half.

Johnny Goddard, Conor Thomas and Darnell Furlong all buried their penalties, but despite Furlong netting the winner the headlines will all go to Will Henry and rightly so.

The youth academy graduate for Swindon saved three of the four spot-kicks he faced as Swindon beat Oxford for the first time in seven attempts.

Both teams made a raft of adjustments to their last starting 11, as Swindon featured six different players that began the 1-1 draw at Shrewsbury on Saturday while Oxford themselves drafted in seven new men that beat Bolton in a derby that was played out in the farcical obligations of the EFL Trophy.

It broke a record, for the wrong reason, as just 2,698 were in attendance at the County Ground which made it the lowest ever turnout for a 'competitive' A420 derby.

By contrast, 9,013 were at the Kassam Stadium in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, the original format of this competition, just last season.

Matters on the pitch were not much better either, only a first-half sending off for Oxford winger Alex Macdonald inspired any sort of life into the contest when he was adjudged to have stamped on Swindon midfielder Anton Rodgers following a foul.

Town's best chance came as the match creaked into the last 20 minutes when Johnny Goddard, on as a substitute just seconds earlier, had a shot palmed away by Oxford keeper Simon Eastwood.

Oxford had their brightest opportunity not long after, but Marvin Johnson was denied by Will Henry when clean through on goal following a counter-attack. 

He had a two-on-one opportunity, but decided against playing in the other Oxford man on the left, deciding to go for glory himself, but Henry was equal to the disappointing shot.

Tonight's result means Swindon now have five points in their EFL Trophy group. Both teams got one point for the draw after 90 minutes and Town's shoot-out win claimed them a bonus point.