Swindon Town suffered a costly defeat in the race for promotion this afternoon after going down 3-1 to Exeter City at St James Park

It was a convincing start by the Reds and they were able to get their noses in-front thanks to Kaiyne Woolery, although his effort was quickly cancelled out by a Jake Taylor strike. 

Pierce Sweeney then completed the comeback, hammering home from the penalty spot to give his side a half-time lead and Jayden Stockley was able to wrap up the points late on.

Phil Brown made just the one change from the team that beat Cambridge United last time out, with Kaiyne Woolery replacing Luke Norris up top.

Town's leading scorer dropped to the bench and was joined by Amine Linganzi who had recovered from a long-term injury.

It really was a six-pointer for both sides with Town entering the game out of the Play-Off spots and three points behind Exeter, who were looking for a win themselves to keep the pressure on the top three.

With so much at stake there was a frantic start to proceedings and the first chance of the game arrived with just a minute on the clock.

Matty Taylor's free-kick landed kindly at the feet of Chris Robertson and the defender decided to have a go, although his effort lacked power and it was an easy enough save for Christy Pym.

Pierce Sweeney was then way off-target with a half-volley for the hosts as the game began to settle down a little bit.

Town will always carry a threat from set-pieces as long as they have Matty Taylor and the veteran went close with 13-minutes played after seeing his low free-kick palmed away by Pym.

Exeter looked dangerous when going forward too, however, and they were able to carve out another chance with Jayden Stockley heading wide from Matt Jay's cross. 

But the opening goal did soon arrive and it was Town who were able to claim it with Kaiyne Woolery tucking home from close-range after Marc Richards was tackled inside the area.

Woolery could have had a second moments later but his long-range effort was smothered by Pym, before the home side saw a goal chalked off for a push by Stockley.

However, Town's lead didn't last long as Exeter hit back quickly through Jake Taylor, who was able to lash home from close-range.

That seemed to give City a little bit of momentum with Stockley again testing Moore with a header, and they would take a lead in at the break. 

Taylor was adjudged to have fouled Dean Moxey inside the area and Sweeney made no mistake from twelve-yards to turn the game on its head.

The tempo was miles less frantic after the break and the first real action of the second-half didn't happen until just shy of the hour mark when Taylor sent a free-kick over the bar for the visitors.

Chris Hussey's searching cross fell at the feet of Richards but he was unable to guide his half-volley past Pym, with Town still searching for an equaliser.

Town then elected to introduce a couple of fresh faces into the fold with Amine Linganzi and Luke Norris replacing Timi Elsnik and Kaiyne Woolery respectively.

The changes nearly made the desired impact too as Linganzi let fly from distance, but his well-struck rocket was punched away by Pym.

With time running out, Town made their third and final change with Kellan Gordon replacing Paul Mullin in a bid to inject some fresh legs into the attack.

And Swindon were certainly spending plenty of time on the attack but they were struggling to make the breakthrough with Hussey sending a shot over the bar.

But Town were done with the ultimate sucker-punch in the dying minutes after Hiram Boateng picked out Stockley, who made no mistake from close-range to end the game as a contest.

TEAMS AND STATS:

SCORERS - Kaiyne Woolery (27), Jake Taylor (33), Pierce Sweeney (43), Jayden Stockley (87).

EXETER CITY (4-4-2) - Pym; Wilson (Lloyd James 89), Sweeney, Storey, Woodman (Troy Archibald-Henville 77); Taylor, Tillson, Boateng, Moxey; Jay (Kyle Edwards 70), Stockley. 

SUBS - Jones, Simpson, McAlinden, Croll.

SWINDON TOWN (4-4-2) - Moore; Purkiss, Robertson, Menayese, Hussey; Mullin (Kellan Gordon 77), Dunne, Elsnik (Amine Linganzi 64), Taylor; Woolery (Luke Norris 64), Richards (C).

SUBS - Henry, Knoyle, Anderson, Twine. 

BOOKINGS:

EXETER CITY -  Dean Moxey.

SWINDON TOWN - Matty Taylor, James Dunne. 

Attendance - 4,567 (337 Away Fans).

Referee - Lee Collins.