Swindon Town 3 Grimsby Town 1

Yet again another Swindon home match was affected by very blustery conditions when they entertained improving Grimsby Town on Saturday. It seems such conditions have become the norm at the County Ground, writes Peter Mitchell.

Swindon had the wind advantage in the first half and came close on several occasions, with both Lloyd Isgrove and Michael Doughty hitting the woodwork. Grimsby coped pretty well and looked dangerous coming forward, with lofty veteran striker James Hanson always a threat.

Again, Town failed to keep the ball on the deck enough and tried far too many ambitious aerial cross field passes. The first half ended goalless, but you had the impression the visitors would prove a handful in the second.

Not for the first time in these conditions, the opposition really failed to make the most of their share of the wind in the second period. However, this could have been because, within fifteen minutes of the restart, it was almost "game over".

First Jerry Yates converted a low pull back from Eoin Doyle, and then Diallang Jaisayimi scored with a soft cross header that goalkeeper James McKeown pushed in, after it came back off the post.

An own goal provided Town's third and final goal but, on this occasion, it was so obvious that not even Eoin Doyle could be credited with the score.

From a corner Hanson then headed home for Grimsby, but they failed to impose any sort of sustained pressure on the Town defence to build on their single goal.

Near the end Town had a number of corner kicks which were almost impossible to take due to the wind. The flag stick itself was almost horizontal and causing an obstruction, but the officials seemed oblivious to the difficulty. The sensible and obvious solution was for the stick to be temporarily removed or – dare I say it – for the linesman to do something useful, and hold it upright. Neither seemed to occur to the referee and it was left to a Swindon player to hold it upright so that Michael Doughty could take the kicks.

Not an impressive display from the Town but a workmanlike performance, and a good outcome, in difficult conditions. Other results generally went Swindon's way with a defeat for Exeter and only a point gained by Plymouth. Crewe remain the most consistent and likely challenger.

Swindon visit the erratic Mansfield next Saturday and then midweek host the postponed match against Scunthorpe United. Four points from these fixtures would be more than adequate.

A few words about our near neighbours Cheltenham Town, who are also enjoying a good season. There are only three league sides who have lost fewer games than them this season – and one of those is Liverpool! Add to this that their goal difference is only one worse than Swindon's, and that they lie in fifth place, and you can see what an excellent job former player Michael Duff has been doing for them. He has turned his team into one that is very hard to beat. Wouldn't it be great if both of the Robins were lining up in League One next year?