Town returned to winning ways in emphatic fashion after putting in a brilliant display to defeat Oldham Athletic 2-0 at Boundary Park this afternoon.
After flying out of the traps in emphatic fashion, the visitors’ early dominance paid off when Jon Obika tucked home the opener inside the opening twenty-minutes.
Town dominated first-half proceedings and were unlucky not to add to their lead with Raphael Rossi-Branco, Nathan Thompson and Obika all going close.
Despite an early spell of pressure from the home side after the interval, Town soon got back into their groove and doubled their lead courtesy of Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill’s first goal of the season.
Swindon combined style and substance to see out the rest of the game and produce the perfect away performance on their way to a crucial three points.
Town Head Coach Luke Williams was forced into making two changes to his Starting XI with Sean Murray and James Brophy missing out through injury and illness respectively.
Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill came in to replace Brophy and John Goddard was the man chosen to fill the void left by Murray’s absence.
It was a bright start by the visitors who carved out the game’s first opportunity with less than five minutes on the clock, Nathan Thompson latching onto Yaser Kasim’s corner before hooking an effort just over.
Town then went close again moments later courtesy of another Kasim corner, which was met by Raphael Rossi-Branco who hammered a thunderous shot wide.
But the visitors’ pressure finally came to fruition just shy of the twenty-minute mark following a brilliant passage of play.
Lloyd Jones’ raking pass found Thompson high up the field and he played a clever ball into the path of Goddard, who picked out Jon Obika perfectly inside the area with the striker keeping a calm head to slot home the opener into the bottom corner.
It was the striker’s second goal of the season and no less than the Reds deserved following an impressive start to proceedings.
Josh Law fired wide from a free-kick at the other end before Town turned on the style again with Obika’s overhead kick forcing Ripley into action.
But the Robins had to be alert inside their own penalty area mere minutes later to break down a promising Oldham attack, Lee Erwin’s two efforts in quick succession both being blocked by a crowd of Town defenders.
Erwin then fired straight at Lawrence Vigouroux but it didn’t take long for Town to flex their attacking muscles again.
Nathan Delfouneso fed Ormonde-Ottewill down the left flank before the wing-back clipped in a ball towards Obika, but the striker could only fire into the side netting after his initial effort was well blocked by Ripley.
That signalled the end of the first-half action with Town taking a well-earned lead in at the interval.
Oldham introduced two fresh faces after the break in a bid to get back into the game and it nearly worked with Ollie Banks thumping an effort just wide.
But the hosts would live to regret that miss as Town hit them on the break moments later to double their advantage.
Delfouneso showed plenty of composure to play in Goddard down the flank with a classy back-heel, and the midfielder’s cross fell nicely at the feet of Ormonde-Ottewill who lashed home Town’s second goal of the afternoon.
The defender tried his luck again mere moments later after embarking on a mazy run but he could only blaze over, before Jones’ shot was hacked clear by the Oldham defence just in-front of the line.
But Town refused to be stopped and they kept launching wave after wave of attack on the Athletic goal in pursuit of a third.
Another flowing move resulted in Ormonde-Ottewill forcing a brilliant stop from Ripley, before the Oldham stopper produced the save of the game to somehow claw away Obika’s goal-bound effort.
Vigouroux had to be alert at the other end to superbly tip Banks’ well-struck free-kick around the post, whilst Kasim went close to stretching Town’s lead after seeing his free-kick pushed wide by Ripley.
And that proved to be the final action of the match as Town were largely untroubled on their way to securing all three points.
TEAMS AND STATS:
OLDHAM ATHLETIC 0-2 SWINDON TOWN:
SCORERS –Jon Obika (18), Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill (54).
OLDHAM ATHLETIC -Ripley; Law, Burgess, Clarke (C), Dunne; Banks, Green, Klok (Ousmane Fane 45), Croft (Darius Osei 45); Erwin (Billy McKay 56), Ladapo.
Subs Not Used -Kettings, Wilson, Flynn, McLaughlin.
SWINDON TOWN -Vigouroux; Rossi-Branco, N Thompson (C), Jones; Furlong, Kasim, Thomas (Ellis Iandolo 87), Goddard (Anton Rodgers 74), Ormonde-Ottewill; Obika, Delfouneso (Luke Norris 72).
Subs Not Used -Henry, Evans, Smith, Hylton.
REFEREE -Mark Haywood
BOOKINGS:
OLDHAM ATHLETIC -Ollie Banks, Ousmane Fane, Cameron Burgess.
TOWN -Nathan Thompson.
ATTENDANCE - 3,403
