Ben Garrity’s brace helps us to reach back-to-back away wins in the league after a terrific performance at Swindon.
A trip to the County Ground for the Valiants after a frustrating game at home to Rochdale last weekend but we started the match on the front foot. Devante Rodney ran onto a forward ball from Dan Jones but his shot on the edge of the area was well saved on six minutes.
Jamie Proctor was in inspired form scoring four in his last two games and almost had another eight minutes later. A great ball in from the right by David Worrall found Proctor in the area but his header went straight into the gloves of Jojo Wollacott.
2005 was the last time we had picked up maximum points at Swindon in the league but we made a great start and on 22 minutes the Valiants took the lead thanks to a volley from Garrity. The midfielder played the ball out wide to the right to Worrall and ran into the area to meet the cross with his right foot and fired it home into the bottom left corner.
Swindon replied 15 minutes later with their first real attempt of the game through Andy Gilbert who had his shot saved and claimed by Lucas Covolan at the second attempt.
Swindon got their equaliser three minutes after the restart through Tyreece Simpson who tapped home from five-yards out meeting Gilbert’s low driven cross. The Robins looked much better in the second half and were close to taking the lead as Gilbert was on target once more but his effort was well saved by Covolan on 53 minutes.
The Valiants responded well and had two dangerous attacks from corners, the first on 59 minutes as the ball fell to the back of the box and Proctor fired in a shot unbalanced and forced Wollacott into a save. Another corner two minutes later, the ball once again falling to the back of the box where Worrall was waiting but his shot hit the side netting.
With 20 minutes left Proctor had another chance in the area but he could not direct his header towards goal as it sailed over from close range. In the 73rd minute Simpson came closest to putting Swindon in front. A curled effort form 20-yards hit the underside of the crossbar and was cleared away from danger.
Having been on top, the Valiants took a deserved lead on 81 minutes thanks to Garrity once again. George Lloyd had a shot from close range which deflected up into the air and was cleared as far as James Gibbons who hit the post and it rebounded to Garrity who fired the ball into the left bottom corner. We held on for the rest of the game, resisting everything the hosts threw at us to pick up the three points.
Swindon Town: Wollacott, Conroy, Crichlow, Gladwin (74’ Iandolo), Simpson, Payne, Gilbert (80’ Parsons), Williams (68’ Mitchell-Lawson), Kesler-Hayden, Hunt, Reed
Subs not used: Ward, Odimayo, East, Parsons, Dabre
Port Vale: Covolan, Jones, Smith, Worrall, Garrity, Conlon, Benning (62’ Gibbons), Proctor (78’ Lloyd), Rodney (68’ Wilson), Pett, Cass
Subs not used: Stone, Martin, Politic, Taylor