SWINDON TOWN and 200 hardy supporters made the midweek trek to Grimsby only to leave empty-handed when they were bidding for a new club record of six successive away wins, writes Pete Mitchell.

Swindon also now have a lengthy injury list with at least six first team regulars unavailable – influential midfielder Timi Elsnik is out for at least a month – and they were only able to name five (of seven possible) substitutes for this fixture.

Grimsby got off to a lively start in wet and windy conditions and were ahead after 11 minutes, when Sam Jones evaded several poor challenges to set up Jamille Matt.

A below-par Swindon suddenly turned the game on its head inside the space of two minutes. First Keshi Anderson scored a wonderfully opportunistic goal when he struck home a swirling 30-yarder. Then, following a Swindon free kick, Matt scored a headed own goal.

Grimsby's attack was looking far more potent than their failure to score in their previous four games suggested and Charles-Cook made three excellent saves in the lively first half.

Shortly after the restart, in a super cross field counter-attack, Johnny Goddard appeared to be held back just as he was about to shoot. It looked a clear penalty and later boss David Flitcroft described the decision to turn appeals down as both 'scandalous' and 'pathetic'.

However, Town's lead looked fairly comfortable until the 70th minute when Dembele was left unmarked to equalise from 12 yards. Then four minutes from the end Jones shot across goal and with Charles-Cook only able to parry the ball, Mitch Rose reacted quickest to fire home the winner.

Despite a few close calls near the end Swindon couldn't get an equaliser.

Hopefully they can make amends at home on Saturday by picking up all three points against Newport County.

Mystery has returned regarding keeper Lawrence Vigouroux; it appears he wouldn't have been able to come off the bench if required and the manager was 'unable to comment on it'.