Swindon Town 0 Northampton 1

This game really did bring Swindon back down to earth with a bump. If you blinked you may have missed it, but Swindon were top of League Two for just three days. Hopefully we will see them there again, writes Peter Mitchell.

True Swindon were robbed due to total incompetence on the part of the officials, but nevertheless this was a very poor performance from a side that had started the season so well.

The build ups were pedantic; there were far too many poor passes in defence and midfield; and almost nothing was created. The biggest cheer of a very forgettable first half was when a fan in the Don Rogers stand attempted to head back a sky high clearance from Dion Conroy.

It was in the 67th minute that referee Craig Hicks, who had been abject throughout, really did do his stuff, with the help of an astonishing oversight by the linesman. Former Town striker Andy Williams was easily 5 yards offside, and almost next to the linesman, when he received the ball and proceeded to thump it in off the cross bar.

Swindon lacked the cohesion seen in their earlier games and missed the flair and energy of the injured Keshi Anderson. They managed just two shots on target in the whole of the game.

An unlikely three points on Saturday at Whaddon Road, and all will be forgiven – we can but dream – and all 1,400 away tickets for the game have been sold (I will say no more…….).

After the game Swindon’s manager complained about the fact that his team had now played 6 games in just three weeks and called it “crazy !”. Very true Mr Wellens, but this is the norm – August is always a busy start. Every team is in the same boat, so you should be used to it – and in any case several players were rested for the previous two midweek games.