Swindon Town lined up with Craig Easton named as captain in place of the suspended Hasney Aljofree on a dull afternoon against already relegated Port Vale.

It was Simon Cox who showed the first attacking with two shots on goal after 10 minutes which led to a corner for Swindon and when that was cleared to Timlin, his cross to the nearpost saw Lee Peacock attempt a spectactular overhead kick which the teenage Vale keeper Chris Martin did well to push away with his left hand.

The visitors were struggling to string any passes together and there was no real surprise when Swindon took the lead in the 15^th minute when the Vale defence failed to clear a long ball on the edge of the area and Lee Peacock gleefully volleyed home for his 7^th goal of the season and he set off in celebration pursued by his Town teammates.

Six minutes later Lee Peacock's pass to Anthony McNamee saw the Town winger outpace the Vale defence before whipping in a perfect cross for captain Craig Easton to volley home for his 6^th goal of the season and this latest goal was just reward for Swindon's attacking endeavour.

Swindon were denied a certain penalty shortly after the goal when Peacock was clearly bundled over by a defender but the referee R Beeby waved away Swindon's claims and awarded a corner instead.

Vale eventually started to push forward in numbers briefly but Swindon were clearly pushing for a third with McNamee going close with a vicious volley from the edge of the area and the ball fizzed narrowly wide of the far post.

Swindon went further ahead in the 33rd minute through Jack Smith when his sheer dogged determination was rewarded when he chased down a long ball forward and played the ball against a defender before firing an unstoppable shot past Martin in the Vale goal for his 1st goal of the season in Swindon's 43rd league game of the season and he looked understandably delighted!

Anthony McNamee was back to his best with some pacy runs down the left wing and the Vale defence were clearly struggling to cope with his pace which led to McNamee having to leave the field for treatment after a heavy knock. However McNamee soon returned to torment the Vale defence with 40 minutes gone and he almost set Simon Cox up with another fierce cross which saw Cox only just fail to control the ball in the 6 yard box and the chance was gone.

There was an amazing passage of play as the match entered added time with Simon Cox laying the ball off to Anthony McNamee on the edge of the area and he sidestepped a couple of defenders before opening his goalscoring account for the Robins by firing a powerful shot under the despairing dive of Martin.  

There was hardly time for the joyous Swindon fans to catch their breath after such a scintillating scoreline when Michael Timlin latched onto the ball on the edge of the area to fire a thunderous shot for his first goal in his latest period on loan at Swindon and that was the last action of the half with no time for the game to restart.

The Swindon players left clearly buoyed up in sharp contrast to the shell shocked Port Vale team who must have been fearing a real earbashing at half time with the risk of a few flying teacups.

Half Time: Swindon Town 5 Port Vale 0 

The Vale manager Lee Sinnott made two substitutions at the start of the second half replacing Dave Mulligan and George Pilkington with Keith Lowe and Chris Slater but it made little difference for the opening ten minutes with the visitors continuing to look edgy after such a dreadful first half.  However the Vale forward drew ironic cheers from the home crowd when he had the visitors first real shot of the afternoon from 20 yards which saw Petr Brezovan catch the ball cleanly but that was enough for the long sufferig Vale fans to respond with a prolonged chorus of the Great Escape theme!

JP McGovern had played his full part in Town's excellent display covering much of the County Ground pitch and he continued to chase down the Vale midfield players along with the hardworking Craig Easton which meant that the Vale forwards were being starved of any possession.  Simon Cox was clearly determined to try and add to his goal tally for the season and he chased down a throughball from McGovern before weaving his way into he penalty area only to be denied by a last ditch defensive tackle.

That proved to be Cox's last contribution as he was replaced by Ben Joyce making his first team debut in the famous red and white of Swindon in the 68th minute.   

Five minutes later former Vale favourite Billy Paynter replaced Lee Peacock who left the field to a great ovation for his efforts including the opening goal.

Swindon were well on top without seriously threatening the Vale goal as the half wore on so Maurice Malpas decided to introduce Kaid Mohamed in place of Anthony NcNamee who had put in a fine performance for the Robins and the County Ground faithful gave him a standing ovation as he left the field in the 80th minute. 

Joe Cardle clearly had not given up on Vale's chances of pulling a consolation goal back as he sent in a rasping shot from 25 yards which Brezovan did well to dive down to his right and smother the ball with 8 minutes of the half remaining. 

The Vale team were still trying to get at least one goal out of the game and were trying to pass the ball around without seriously threatening the Swindon goal and must have been relieved to have kept out the marauding Town forwards during the second half.  However there was still time for debutant Ben Joyce to outpace the defence and fire wide  in the 90th minute but he was not to be denied a goal on his debut when he scored with a thunderous volley from the edge of the area to seal a superb win for Maurice Malpas's team and guarantee League One football for season 2008/9.

The win moves Swindon Town onto 54 points from 43 games with a goal difference of plus 5 after the demolition of already doomed Port Vale team. Hopefully many of the supporters attracted to the match by the special matchday ticket deal sponsored by the Swindon Advertiser will return for the last home match of the season against Millwall.

Full Time: Swindon Town 6 (six)  Port Vale 0