SWINDON TOWN made their second long trip north in the opening fortnight of the season – this time to Morecambe in Lancashire – and as at Carlisle previously came back with all three points, writes Peter Mitchell.

Dion Conroy was back in the Town side after injury, replacing Chris Robertson in defence, while new signing Kaiyne Woolery retained his starting place partnering Luke Norris up front. Swindon's Paul Mullin was returning to his old club after finishing joint-top scorer for the Shrimpers last season.

In a first half devoid of much quality, and playing against the wind, Swindon's Donal McDermott created the only bright moment when he curled a lovely shot home from 20 yards out.

After an hour Woolery was replaced by James Brophy who almost immediately headed over from a great position.

Both McDermott and Amine Linganzi were having effective games in the middle of the pitch for Swindon.

Unfortunately uncompromising midfielder James Dunne picked up another yellow card so with three to his name already he will be short odds to be the first Town player to tot up a suspension.

Former Swindon player Michael Rose was causing some havoc in the Town defence especially with his speciality long throws. Towards the end it was very much a matter of Swindon with their backs to the wall.

With five minutes remaining Swindon brought on Robertson as an extra defender in place of McDermott to help soak up the mounting pressure.

In a division where points are likely to be hard won, with many games descending into dour, unattractive affairs, this was a classic example of Swindon digging in and seeing out the game.

A very good start to the league campaign sees them with seven points out of a possible nine.

Manager David Flitcroft must be well pleased with how his squad is knitting together after such a short time.

Next up are pointless Crawley Town at the County Ground next Saturday, so let's hope the momentum continues to build.