Swindon opted for one change following Tuesday’s League Cup defeat, with Jermaine McGlashan replacing Sid Nelson writes Peter Mitchell.

Town made another sloppy start and found themselves two goals behind within the first 15 minutes. First Romanski failed to clear on the edge of his box and Jonny Smith duly applied the punishment. Less than three minutes later, a long ball down the middle wasn’t dealt with and James Norwood beat Lawrence Vigouroux for the second.

Then came the moment that changed the game and shifted the momentum firmly back to the home side. Jay Harris made a rash high tackle on Swindon’s Martin Smith and received an instant red card. Within two minutes good play and finishing by Elijah Adebeyo pulled one back for Swindon and they reached the break back on top, but with still lots to do.

A very early substitution by Phil Brown meant midfielder Toumani Diagouraga was sacrificed for striker Marc Richards. A gamble that surprised most people but one that would eventually pay off. This was Richard’s first appearance of the season after his shoulder injury on 7th July.

On the hour mark, after a superb pass from fellow-substitute Steve Alzate, Richards smacked home the equaliser. Town were now launching wave after wave of attacks, with Knoyle and McGlashan combining well down the right.

Tranmere were gradually showing the signs of playing a man short for over seventy minutes, although they still managed to force Vigouroux into a couple of good saves. Another unlikely victory was eventually sealed following further good work by Alzate when Romanski made up for his earlier gaff by being on hand to slot the ball home.

So full credit to the manager for some smart tactical substitutions that paid off. His strategies are certainly providing good entertainment value with five goals witnessed in each of the opening three league games. It was also illuminating, although the relevance was somewhat lost on me, for him to advise us that, on average, the ball changes hands over 400 times each match. I wonder who has the riveting task of keeping track of that fascinating statistic.

What continues to frustrate Swindon fans is the fact that Phil Brown has been in place since early March and still hasn’t managed to secure at least one permanent experienced central defender. He made it quite clear very quickly that this was the place where Town were light on resource and that it was a key task. Since then he has managed to recruit an abundance of midfielders, but the only new defender of any description is young Nelson, who is on a six-month loan from Millwall.

With Dion Conroy missing again on Saturday the signs are that Town will now be even more limited for choice over the coming weeks. The word is that the manager has reached the limit of his budget and has little money left to play with, although he is still talking about getting in yet another midfield/wide player on loan!

Swindon face two away league games next week – Crawley Town followed by a short trip to Forest Green Rovers on Saturday.