HARRY HELPS ROBINS’ RISE
SWINDON boss David Flitcroft could scarcely conceal his delight after his rapidly improving side ended Wycombe’s impressive six-match unbeaten run.
Harry Smith’s volley early on in the game proved decisive, but Flitcroft was delighted with all of his players who paraded bags of fighting spirit to hang on and secure a well-deserved fifth win in eight.
Flitcroft said: “I just can’t fault the players. They were excellent from the first minute until the last and we have definitely deserved these three points.
“We’ve shown once again that we’re capable of mixing it with the best in this division, and Wycombe will be up there or thereabouts at the end of the season again.
“It’s about us, though, and we've worked our socks off and in the end secured a big reward.
“We got our noses in front and the players, to a man, have defended brilliantly.
“Hopefully this is another result that will make a few people sit up and take notice.
“We’re up there and if we maintain this level of performance, we’ll stay up there.”
There was a terrific atmosphere inside the County Ground during what proved to be an enterprising opening half.
The Robins grabbed the decisive goal after 15 minutes when the returning Smith volleyed home superbly into the bottomright corner for his second goal of the season, racing in to meet Keshi Anderson’s cross.
Smith almost bagged his second moments later, but his downward header was superbly saved by Scott Brown.
The Chairboys’ best effort of the first period came through Sam Saunders, who fizzed a strike narrowly over the crossbar.
The visitors came close to levelling shortly after the restart when Adebayo Akinfenwa was thwarted by a super save from Reice Charles-Cook.
At the other end, the Robins almost doubled their advantage when Smith lashed narrowly wide after latching on to Donal McDermott’s precise throughball.
The Robins almost wrapped up their win in fine style late on, but Paul Mullin’s strike was brilliantly beaten away by Brown.
Chairboys boss Gareth Ainsworth wasn’t too hard on his players, who slipped to a first loss in seven.
“It’s been a really good game, but we’re disappointed of course,” said Ainsworth.
“They were camped in our half in the first half and we were camped in their half in the second, but it’s goals that change games and it was Swindon who got the crucial only one early.
“I think we did end up having more shots than Swindon, but they were wayward and that’s not enough.
“We’ve got to be getting more shots on target because here we’ve simply not made anything count.”