SWINDON TOWN produced a solid performance on Saturday against a Cambridge United team sitting a couple of places above them in the table, writes Peter Mitchell.

Three changes were made from the side that lost narrowly to Coventry during the week. New signing Matt Preston came into the centre of defence replacing Chris Robertson.

Also making starts were Amine Linganzi and Kaiyne Woolery. Good news for Swindon was that an appeal against James Dunne's Tuesday sending off had been successful and so he retained his place in the starting line-up.

The visitors had some powerful units up front and you could see it was not going to be an easy debut for Preston. After weathering some initial Cambridge pressure, Swindon took a 12th-minute lead when a swift move down the left ended with Keshi Anderson eventually converting a cross from Woolery.

After 37 minutes a great ball threaded through by the energetic Linganzi saw Anderson's goal-bound effort blocked by an alert United defence.

Five minutes before the interval, Luke Norris miskicked a Ben Purkiss cross in front of goal and Anderson's shot was again blocked.

United had been well in contention during the first half but Town looked comfortable against a powerful and lively attack, with Preston proving especially impressive.

For once we seemed to have a sensible referee in charge but Andy Woolmer blotted his copybook and invoked the ire of the Town supporters when he failed to stop play when Luke Norris was injured.

On 59 minutes Norris fell in the box and it took nearly two minutes for play to be stopped and for him to be attended. He was in great discomfort from a shoulder injury (again) as he walked off.

On 73 minutes Town rode their luck when after a frantic melee in their six-yard box, Uche Ikpeazu headed against the bar only to see the rebound drop safely into Lawrence Vigouroux's hands.

After 80 minutes Kellan Gordon was put through on goal but shot straight at goalkeeper David Forde's legs, with substitute Harry Smith yelling for the pass.

Johnny Goddard made a welcome appearance towards the end – his first since the opening match of the season – and showed glimpses of his good pre-season form. Town really do have some options on the bench this term.

Swindon sealed the win and avoided a nervous finale when they scored their second three minutes from the end. A superb piece of interplay ended with Anderson putting Smith through and he made no mistake with a strong finish.

The sponsors selected Matt Preston as their MoM. Although he didn't put a foot wrong on his debut I would have selected Linganzi instead.

His performance was superb, breaking up opponents' play in midfield and filling the role of playmaker as well. On this occasion he not only looked like last season's midfield star Rohan Ince, but he played like him.

A good win took Town up to eighth. Next Saturday they a visit a resurgent Cheltenham Town for a local derby. Swindon have a poor record against the other Robins but hopefully this team, which seems brimming with confidence, will turn the tide.

In other news, our beloved County Ground has suddenly become the Energy Check County Ground. This week, in a deal similar to that concluded with David Flitcroft's previous club, Bury, Town sold their naming rights to the Energy Checking Company Limited.

The company's stated objectives are to reduce their clients' energy consumption so maybe the Town defence will be expected to meet new targets in terms of speed and efficiency.

Congratulations are due to Town's young stopper, 19-year-old Will Henry. Will has been selected for the England U20 squad for two international matches this month.

Through no fault of his own he finds himself as Swindon's number three keeper and is currently on loan at Dunstable Town to get more game time.