SkyBet League One

Coventry 1

Swindon Town 3

MAKE no mistake, the 3-1 win at Coventry's Ricoh Arena was a really big one for Swindon Town, writes Peter Mitchell

Without it, as the results panned out, they would have been left six points from safety.

Although still in the drop zone, another win in the home game on Tuesday night with Gillingham would put them right back in the mix.

On the evidence of this display, Swindon's players seem to have no problems being sent to Coventry!

In front of a large contingent of almost 900 loyal travelling fans, Town took the field with an unchanged team from the improved performance against Oldham.

Honours were fairly even for the first 20 minutes with both teams pushing forward positively. Again it was good to see Swindon immediately on the front foot. Although Coventry engineered a couple of chances which were comfortably dealt with by Vigouroux, it was Town, through Nathan Thompson and Ajose, who came closest to opening the scoring.

On 32 minutes, a good crossfield passing move resulted in Gladwin chipping deep into the Coventry box, where Ajose flicked the ball home. Town were now definitely on top and linking together well.

Rohan Ince was again showing his strength on the ball with another promising display. After 36 minutes Colkett, winning the ball in midfield, pushed a perfect pass into the path of Ajose, who should have done better than to see his shot deflected narrowly wide.

Only a minute later a superb cross from the left by Colkett was finished equally superbly by a powerful diving header from Obika.

Obika seemed back to his best form, holding up the ball well and consistently winning any header coming his way.

Town were good value for their two-goal advantage at half-time with Colkett now beginning to turn his undoubted qualities into a tangible contribution.

Into the second half and Coventry were finding more space in the Swindon defence but were still not creating too many concrete opportunities. After 53 minutes, a header from Ince, pushed on by Gladwin, gave Ajose a glorious chance, but he fired high and wide with only the goalie to beat.

Town had been finding their men well all afternoon and on 71 minutes Gladwin picked out Ormonde-Ottewill, whose penetrating ball into the box found the hungry Ajose, who this time grabbed the third.

Although Coventry were pressing forward, Swindon were sitting comfortably on their three-goal lead. On 74 minutes, Thompson was on hand to head away a Coventry attempt from under his own crossbar.

Into injury time and Town's defence momentarily went to sleep when Vigouroux was surprisingly beaten at his near post by George Thomas. His own disappointment and frustration at surrendering his clean sheet was evident at the final whistle.

There were lots of positives, then, from this performance and a bigger chink of light at the end of the tunnel.

Ajose was back to his poaching best; the whole team put in a shift for the full 90 minutes and there was an impressive amount of link-up play to create a decent number of chances. Several players were candidates for Man of the Match.

While there was much to celebrate for Town supporters, spare a thought for their poor Coventry counterparts.

After this abject display there now seems nothing to stop them dropping to the bottom tier for the first time since 1959.

Russell Slade must be sick of the sight of Swindon shirts – he was sacked immediately after his Charlton side lost to Town in mid-November and this result can have done little to enhance his job prospects.

There was a nice touch at the end when the whole Swindon squad plus the coaching team assembled on the pitch for a "group huddle" – let's hope that such togetherness and positivity prevails for the rest of the season.

An interesting dilemma now faces Luke Williams ahead of the next "six-pointer" against Gillingham on Tuesday. Raphael Rossi Branco will be available again after suspension, but should Williams change a team that has performed so well in his absence?