FA Cup Second Round Swindon Town 3 Forest Green Rovers 2.

JIM HARVEY was left to ponder what might have been after Forest Green Rovers were edged out of the FA Cup on Saturday by League One Swindon Town.

Blair Sturrock - son of departed Town boss Paul - scored the winner for Swindon with just two minutes of normal time remaining.

Rovers had come from a goal down at half-time to lead 2-1 but they were pegged back just three minutes after going ahead and were denied even a replay late on.

Disappointed boss Harvey said: "We scored two really good goals, played lots of good football and created plenty of other chances, so I was really happy with that side of the performance.

"In my mind, we were much the better team - our shape and how we played the game was much slicker than Swindon.

"You don't always get what you deserve and I felt we deserved something more.

"I'm disappointed and I will be for a long time with that result."

Harvey bemoaned the fact that all three of Swindon's goals were preventable, while his side worked hard to earn theirs.

Indeed, the 12th minute opener - credited to Jon Paul McGovern - actually went in off Alex Lawless as he tried to defend McGovern's corner.

However, Forest Green produced an equaliser nine minutes into the second half with the goalscorer hardly a surprise.

Stuart Fleetwood notched his 24th goal of the season with a deft finish at the near post from Anthony Tonkin's cross.

Twelve minutes later, Rovers were in dreamland.

Mark Beesley rose superbly to crash a header past Peter Brezovan and put the Nailsworth side 2-1 up with 24 minutes to play.

However, they held the lead for just three minutes as Hasney Aljofree headed McGovern's free-kick past Ryan Robinson to make it 2-2.

A replay was the least that Harvey's men deserved but they were denied even that with just two minutes remaining.

Billy Paynter had a shot blocked after a slip by John Hardiker and Sturrock - booed by the home fans because of his father's departure last week - smashed the loose ball home to end Rovers' cup run.

Harvey added: "We need more people to come and watch us and the FA Cup excites supporters.

"We're a very good team, playing a lot of good football and usually with our games there are goals at both ends."

The dejection of the defeat for Rovers will have been eased slightly by the distinctly unglamorous third round draw that saw Swindon given a home tie against League Two Barnet or Forest Green's Blue Square Premier rivals Burton Albion.