THE reality of Swindon's uphill task to ensure survival in League One was underlined after this display against fellow strugglers Oldham Athletic on Saturday, writes Peter Mitchell.

This was a much-improved Town performance against a team that was always going to be satisfied with a point.

However, despite Swindon creating a host of chances – and managing 26 shots in all – a goal proved elusive and it was two points dropped rather than one gained.

Swindon without Raphael Rossi Branco (suspended) changed from five along the back to four, and brought back Brad Barry in favour of Chelsea loanee Fankaty Dabo, who had such a torrid time in the 2-1 defeat at Northampton on Tuesday.

From the start Swindon played fast-flowing attacking football and constantly threatened the Oldham goal.

In the first 15 minutes alone they created at least five good chances, and both Gladwin and Brophy were looking much more positive, with the latter's pace creating problems.

New Brighton loanee Rohan Ince, making his full debut, was a revelation. Here was a player with the physical presence in midfield that Town have lacked all season.

Unlike all the other recent additions, Ince at around 6' 3" (but with his hair style making him look another three inches taller) was never going to be easily shifted off the ball.

He was tenacious, hard working and showed plenty of passing skills as well. Little surprise that he was a unanimous Man-of-the-Match pick. But as one wag remarked: "Don't worry, the Swindon coaches will soon knock all that out of him."

For all Town's dominance Oldham almost snatched a totally undeserved lead in first-half injury time when Swindon's defence was left wide open on the left.

Whatever they are putting in the players' tea at half-time needs to be reviewed urgently. Once again – as in the previous two home games – Town came out looking a completely different side to the one that went in at the break.

For the first 30 minutes of the second half their attacks were restricted to sporadic breakaways with Oldham starting to dominate the midfield and wing play.

On 66 minutes, Brophy, who seemed to be tiring, was caught in possession on the right and almost let in Oldham's troublesome winger McLaughlin. This heralded the first change and almost immediately he was substituted for Goddard.

Five minutes later an excellent interchange between Obika and Gladwin resulted in Gladwin firing narrowly wide. However Obika, who had played a deeper semi-midfield role in the first half, was beginning to look less effective.

On 75 minutes he was replaced by Luke Norris and Dion Conroy, a recent permanent signing from Chelsea, took the place of the impressive Ince.

This latter change resulted in a howl of protest from the crowd but Ince, who had already been booked, was tiring fast and there was a real danger of him incurring a second yellow.

With 10 minutes to go Town seemed to find another gear and Thompson driving forward provided Norris with a match-winning opportunity, which was again fired inches wide.

On 84 minutes, Norris headed narrowly over from an Ormonde-Ottewill cross and then a speculative ball into the box by Gladwin resulted in Oldham's veteran central defender, Clarke (oh for someone like him in our defence) almost heading over his own keeper.

With the 90 minutes almost up, Colkett found Goddard with a great ball and his cross was put narrowly wide by Gladwin.

Colkett had shown a number of nice touches and a few telling passes but, in my opinion, his overall contribution and work rate is still questionable.

Swindon had paid the price for taking their foot off the gas and sitting back in the first 35 minutes of the second half. On the positive side, in the latter stages there seemed to be little sign of the lack of stamina that had been questioned after the last home game, and Brad Barry gave an accomplished performance after a long lay-off.

Both Lloyd Jones and Nathan Thompson had looked comfortable in their roles as central defenders in the absence of Branco – but remember this was against an attack that has managed even fewer goals than Swindon so far this season.

There are still 13 games left and with another display like this next Saturday – in the vital match at bottom club Coventry – there is still room for hope.