SOMETHING odd happened at the County Ground on Saturday – and I don’t mean that three points were won in a home game for the first time since the opening day of the season (August 8).

Strictly speaking I should say something did not happen.

Swindon had just gone 2-0 up after the sort of destructive 15-minute spell which led to so many of their wins last season. And yet I did not hear one chorus of ‘We are Martin Ling’s red and white army’.

In fact, I didn’t hear the new manager’s name sung all afternoon.

Ling is a prodigal son who had two spells (one very brief) at Swindon as a player during which the side ‘enjoyed’ one season in the Premier League. His return as manager has been met with general approval from fans.

And yet not only was there no fanfare from the club beforehand, no hello wave to the fans from the centre of the pitch, there appeared to be no tangible acknowledgement of him throughout the game.

His first match in charge had been the 3-1 defeat at Rochdale in the FA Cup when some noticeable improvement in the post-Mark Cooper era seemed to stall.

But on Saturday the display was almost unrecognisable from the dross seen at Millwall, albeit with the usual Swindon signs of vulnerability.

Ling made two tactical changes, playing a back three and two up front.

The defensive trio of Raphael Rossi Branco, Adam El-Abd and Jordan Turnbull were pretty solid with the result that keeper Lawrence Vigouroux had one of his quietest games in weeks.

And Brad Barry at right wing back was a revelation. One of only a couple of players who should not have felt embarrassed by their display at Millwall, Barry was again excellent.

He was a willing outlet going forward, made a couple of crucial tackles when Scunthorpe caught us on the break, and should have scored, misjudging a glancing header in an admittedly fierce wind during first half stoppage time. As a strike pairing Jon Obika and Nicky Ajose failed to fire and we must hope that a fully fit Wes Thomas will prove a more potent foil man for Ajose. Hopefully, Thomas will also do a better job at defensive set pieces than Obika.

From the accusatory glances, it was Obika who should have been marking Jordan Clarke, when the defender was given acres of space to score Scunthorpe’s goal from a corner. Swindon’s threat came principally from QPR loanee Ben Gladwin. It’s still the same old Ben, occasionally robbed in possession when wanting too long on the ball.

But no one else gives us the destructive runs at the heart of the opposition defence and he made both Swindon goals – one from a venomous free kick which set off panic in the Scunthorpe defence before being finished off by captain Rossi Branco and the other after delayed but inch perfect pass which set up the Ajose goal.

Sadly, you can probably not have Gladwin and the creative Fabien Robert on the field together, while weak links (but full Swindon Town assets) like Anton Rodgers and Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill will continue to be accommodated because of the rules regarding the threshold of five loanees in your matchday squad.

Juggling our surfeit of eight loan players will be one of Ling’s major challenges and key to any climb up the table. But if Scunthorpe were able to win 15 points out of 18 in October, that sort of run should not be beyond Swindon.

And when we get our best XI on the pitch – we were still missing five on Saturday – I can’t see us being relegation fodder, especially with two of the most well-regarded young coaches in the game – Luke Williams and Ross Embleton – now working in tandem.