Two days after winning away at Walsall, high flying Swindon Town took on Port Vale who had won both of their last two games.
Swindon began the game without midfielder Yasser Kasim who was called earlier than expected to meet up with his Iraq team mates for the forthcoming Asian cup and also captain Nathan Thompson through injury.
Swindon as usual started off trying to keep possession and tire out their opponents to create a gap in the defence and Port Vale, like many others visiting the County Ground this season, sat back and tried to defend.
Just before half time the chance came. Nathan Byrne was unable to get passed his man and knocked the ball inside for Louis Thompson and he slid the ball beautifully into the box for Johnathan Obika who put it into the path of Andy Williams who got past the defender and shot disappointingly into the keepers legs.
Swindon were definitely on top at half time but struggled to convert chances to goals. Port Vale were very defensively minded and had only few chances from corners and didn't force Wes Foderingham into a single save.
Strong words were had by Mark Cooper at half time and Swindon came out with renewed vigour in the second half.
And before long the golden chance came. Nathan Byrne beat his marker into the box and floated a inch perfect ball onto the head of Andy Williams who netted his fourteenth goal of the season eleven minutes into the second half.
Swindon seemed to regress after that point but for an exemplary performance from Australian international Massimo Luongo who showed his true talent after that point. Luongo was creating all of the chances and everything flowed through him. This was shown when in the corner both Luongo and the defender slipped but he showed his desire to win the ball first and used mesmerising skill to beat the other man and zipped the ball across the six yard box but nobody managed to capitalise.
Finally in the last fifteen minutes Port Vale managed to add something to the game. They pushed Swindon back and delivered a series of dangerous balls into the box but again nobody could get a meaningful touch on it and Swindon survived and the game ended one-nil.
Swindon manager Mark Cooper was critical of his sides showing in front of goal, 'We need to be a bit more clinical, when we have chances to kill the game off.' He was also philosophical about his sides performance so far this season, ' We've just got to keep playing, keep performing.'
Man of the match: Massimo Luongo
Swindon began the game without midfielder Yasser Kasim who was called earlier than expected to meet up with his Iraq team mates for the forthcoming Asian cup and also captain Nathan Thompson through injury.
Swindon as usual started off trying to keep possession and tire out their opponents to create a gap in the defence and Port Vale, like many others visiting the County Ground this season, sat back and tried to defend.
Just before half time the chance came. Nathan Byrne was unable to get passed his man and knocked the ball inside for Louis Thompson and he slid the ball beautifully into the box for Johnathan Obika who put it into the path of Andy Williams who got past the defender and shot disappointingly into the keepers legs.
Swindon were definitely on top at half time but struggled to convert chances to goals. Port Vale were very defensively minded and had only few chances from corners and didn't force Wes Foderingham into a single save.
Strong words were had by Mark Cooper at half time and Swindon came out with renewed vigour in the second half.
And before long the golden chance came. Nathan Byrne beat his marker into the box and floated a inch perfect ball onto the head of Andy Williams who netted his fourteenth goal of the season eleven minutes into the second half.
Swindon seemed to regress after that point but for an exemplary performance from Australian international Massimo Luongo who showed his true talent after that point. Luongo was creating all of the chances and everything flowed through him. This was shown when in the corner both Luongo and the defender slipped but he showed his desire to win the ball first and used mesmerising skill to beat the other man and zipped the ball across the six yard box but nobody managed to capitalise.
Finally in the last fifteen minutes Port Vale managed to add something to the game. They pushed Swindon back and delivered a series of dangerous balls into the box but again nobody could get a meaningful touch on it and Swindon survived and the game ended one-nil.
Swindon manager Mark Cooper was critical of his sides showing in front of goal, 'We need to be a bit more clinical, when we have chances to kill the game off.' He was also philosophical about his sides performance so far this season, ' We've just got to keep playing, keep performing.'
Man of the match: Massimo Luongo