Stand-in Hunt happy with Swindon’s display

Assistant manager Noel Hunt believes Swindon are back to their “usual selves” after a vital 1-0 win over promotion rivals Northampton.

The table-topping Robins got back to winning ways thanks to Jordan Lyden, who headed home his first goal for the club with just 12 minutes left at Sixfields.

Swindon remain two points clear of Crewe at the top of Sky Bet League Two.

“It’s a very satisfying win,” said Hunt. “It was a very scrappy game in the first half but I thought we dealt with them really well.

“We contested every first ball and we won the majority of the second balls and then we played with a little more quality in the second half.

“On another night I feel like we should have scored two or three goals. We missed a couple of chances and picked the wrong option on a couple of breakaways, but we asked them to build on Saturday’s performance and they did that.

“I thought we were really good in the second half. We looked really fluent on the counter-attack and we’re now getting back to our usual selves.

“It’s important to spread the goals around and have midfielders chipping in and we’ve also got boys on the bench that can come on at any time.

“We know what we have, we feel we’re pretty strong and now we’ve got to keep going and keep building.”

The result marked Northampton’s second home defeat in the space of four days but they remain sixth and inside the play-off positions, albeit now eight points adrift of the automatic promotion spots.

“It again goes down to the fine margins,” said manager Keith Curle. “In terms of shots on target and balls in the box, everything was there.

“I think their goalkeeper made three very good saves and it’s about the fine margins because we conceded a goal from a throw-in.

“It’s a little bit of play, the ball goes into our box, one of their men runs off our player and finds himself in the middle of the goal with a free header and he scores a goal.

“That’s where we’re still a work in progress and players are accountable and responsible because those fine margins get you top of the league, so we’ve got to make sure people don’t run off us.

“Likewise, when we’re going the other way, we’ve got to get a yard the other side of people, but you’ve got to say the goalkeeper has made three good saves and they can be game-changing moments.”