THE trip home from Vale Park on Saturday was so much more pleasant than the bitterly disappointing journey last March, writes Pete Mitchell.

On that occasion our rivals had dragged us into the drop zone – both teams were subsequently relegated – with a late clinching third goal soon after the sending-off of Brad Barry.

On Saturday we saw a dominant away display from Town – three goals and a clean sheet.

None of the other 91 sides from the Premiership to League Two have won more games away from home (six) than Town. 

Swindon were playing a side enjoying a bit of a resurgence after three straight wins, and Town started with an unchanged line-up from the win over Wycombe. Keeper Reice Charles-Cook deservedly retained his place between the posts, but interestingly Will Henry figured on the bench instead of Lawrence Vigouroux.

Post-match comments by manager David Flitcroft, who didn't want to talk about Vigs and described him as 'not needed', point to an element of discontent in the camp.

Once again difficult windy conditions prevailed but Swindon started brightly and for the first 20 minutes had most of the possession and were pressing constantly.

After 30 minutes they put together a great cross field move, involving six or seven players, which ended with Johnny Goddard firing narrowly wide.

From the early stages it had been clear that young wide-man Marcus Myers-Harness and striker Tom Pope would be the ones to subdue in the Valiants side.

Harry Smith, again deputising for injured Luke Norris, was winning more than his share of balls in the air but unfortunately was being caught offside too many times.

For some reason Charles-Cook looked a shade nervous in goal having made a couple of poor clearances and dropping a fairly straightforward cross.

In a scrappy first half, Vale had offered very little.

Five minutes into the second period, Smith won a great header to Donal McDermott who was fouled on the edge of the area. The resulting free kick was another brilliant strike from Matt Taylor for Swindon's opener.

With half an hour left Goddard was replaced by the fit-again Timi Elsnik and he proceeded to have his best 30 minutes in a Town shirt. He was everywhere, carving out several promising openings, and going close himself.

After 70 minutes we witnessed a truly wonderful finish, although Vale keeper Dimi Evtimov will be disappointed that he failed to do more to stop it.

Paul Mullin, who two minutes earlier had replaced McDermott, somehow got on the end of another floated cross by Matt Taylor, to head home virtually at ground level.

Town were now playing with confidence and totally in command. Charles-Cook was called on to make two good saves near the end, no longer showing signs of his first-half tentativeness.

With just five minutes left Swindon got a third goal which was no less than their superiority deserved. Smith broke away into the box and selflessly passed to substitute Kellan Gordon, who calmly finished with his first kick of the match.

After Town's final goal there was a steady exodus of home supporters accompanied by the visiting fans' taunt of 'Is there a fire drill going on?'

Patience generally pays dividends and Town are now showing signs of some consistency – two wins on the bounce and two clean-sheets – moving them up to fifth place in League Two.

On Tuesday Town host Wycombe again in the Checkatrade Trophy and next Sunday they have a potentially tricky FA Cup tie away to National League South side Dartford.

It will be interesting to see what their attitude is, but a good cup run is long overdue and Town should go into the game with morale sky high.