Town were left to rue their luck after falling to a narrow 1-0 defeat to Bury at Gigg Lane in the Sky Bet League One earlier this afternoon.
Both sides created openings in the early exchanges but it was the hosts who struck first courtesy of James Vaughan, who converted from the penalty spot midway through the first-half.
There were chances at either end of the pitch after the break but the Robins were unable to claw their way back into the contest with Bury hanging onto their slender lead.
Town Head Coach Luke Williams decided to shuffle his pack for this crunch Sky Bet League One fixture by making three changes.
Dion Conroy replaced Lloyd Jones for his full debut for the Reds, Rohan Ince was handed his Town bow and Jermaine Hylton came in to replace Luke Norris after the latter failed a late fitness test.
Yaser Kasim dropped to the bench and was joined by Jon Obika and Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill, who had both returned to the fold following lengthy spells out with injury.
Swindon again opted to line-up in a 3-5-2 formation with Hylton leading the line alongside Nicky Ajose and Conroy joining Nathan Thompson and Raphael Rossi-Branco in a back-three.
Fankaty Dabo and James Brophy lined-up at right-back and left-back respectively and Rohan Ince, Ben Gladwin and Charlie Colkett formed a dangerous trio in the middle of the park.
Three points was hugely important for both sides in the battle at the bottom of the table and there was a frantic start to proceedings.
Reece Brown fizzed a free-kick just past the post for the hosts before Ben Gladwin glanced a header over the bar at the other end following a pinpoint cross from Charlie Colkett.
Lawrence Vigouroux was then forced into action as he did well to push Greg Leigh’s venomous drive out for a corner.
Town were doing plenty of probing inside their opposition’s half but they were unable to find a way through with Fankaty Dabo seeing his curled effort headed away, before Nicky Ajose was crowded out by a flurry of defenders.
Both teams were stroking the ball around nicely but were cancelling each other out and the game was becoming a real battle in the engine room with chances few and far between.
Bury were allowed a clear sight on goal just past the half-hour mark though, with Dabo’s lapse in concentration allowing Tom Pope to take aim but the striker could only stab well wide.
However, the Shakers did take full advantage of the next opportunity that came their way shortly before half-time.
After Nathan Thompson sliced his clearance and James Brophy was forced to head behind, Raphael Rossi-Branco was adjudged to have fouled Pope from the resulting corner.
And James Vaughan made no mistake from the penalty spot, hammering the ball beyond Vigouroux to give Bury the lead.
Town came close to hauling themselves level just before the break with Gladwin sending a fierce drive from distance inches over the crossbar.
Dabo then ran onto a loose ball before fizzing an effort towards goal but Antony Kay threw himself in the way of the strike and that proved to be the end of the first-half.
Swindon came out firing after the interval and carved out a chance in the opening few minutes with Hylton holding off a couple of challenges before lashing wide.
Both sides then made changes with Jon Obika replacing Hylton for Town, before Andrew Tutte took the place of Scott Burgess for Bury.
The Shakers were then a whisker away from doubling their lead just past the hour mark as Vaughan fired just over the bar after being set free by Jacob Mellis’ weighted pass.
Town were struggling to grab a foothold on the game although they were given a chance to get back into the contest after winning a free-kick just outside the area, but Ajose was unable to keep his effort down.
Bury were looking the more dangerous of the two teams in the final-third and they nearly forced the Reds into conceding a second.
Second-half substitute George Miller put Vigouroux under pressure and the keeper’s clearance fell at the feet of Andrew Tutte, who could only watch on as his strike sailed wide of the empty net.
Time was running out and Town were trying their best to heap pressure on the Bury goal with both Obika and Gladwin sending efforts straight at Joe Murphy.
Thompson then galloped forward for the visitors and opted to go for goal himself, but his drive flashed past the far post.
The game was becoming more stretched as time ticked away and Bury were next to try their luck in-front of goal with Tutte slamming a strike just over the crossbar.
Town had two last chances in the dying minutes of the game but were unable to take them as Colkett dragged wide before Conroy sent a free-kick over the bar.
TEAMS AND STATS:
SCORERS - James Vaughan (37).
BURY - Murphy; C Burgess, Kay (C), Barnett; Leigh, Mellis, Moore, S Burgess (Andrew Tutte 60), Brown; Vaughan (Hallam Hope 90), Pope (George Miller 66).
Subs Not Used - Lainton, Pennant, Lowe, Deslandes.
TOWN - Vigouroux; Conroy, Thompson (C), Rossi-Branco; Dabo, Ince, Gladwin, Colkett, Brophy; Hylton (Jon Obika 59), Ajose.
Subs Not Used - Henry, Ormonde-Ottewill, Thomas, Rodgers, Kasim, Goddard.
Referee - Mark Brown
BOOKINGS:
BURY - James Vaughan, Reece Brown, Cameron Burgess, Greg Leigh, Leon Barnett.
TOWN - Ben Gladwin, Dion Conroy.
ATTENDANCE - 2,713 (214 Town Fans)
