Swindon Town played out a goalless draw with previous league leaders Stockport County away at Edgeley Park on Saturday afternoon.
Zach Elbouzedi hit the post in the first half from a tight angle in Town's best chance of the game.
Shortly after coming on, Aaron Drinan also fired a well-taken first-time effort that forced Stockport's keeper Ben Hinchliffe into a brilliant save to deny the Town forward.
Stockport had their chances too, but the reshuffled Swindon defence held firm to play out a well-deserved clean sheet and point away against the promotion hopefuls.
Town made five changes to the side which faced MK Dons last time out, with Zach Elbouzedi, Jake Cain, Dawson Devoy, Harrison Minturn and captain Charlie Austin all recalled to the starting line-up.
Youngster Minturn took the place of Udoka Godwin-Malife who missed the game, with Dawson Devoy returning in midfield to partner George McEachran following Saidou Khan's suspension after picking up 10 yellow cards in the home fixture against MK Dons last time out.
Ricky Aguiar also returned to the matchday squad, with a place on the bench to offer Swindon more options in midfield later on in the second half.
It was a cagey opening 10 minutes with both sides looking to respond to disappointing defeats last weekend, but after a succession of dangerous corners, Town had their first chance shortly after the returning Jake Cain saw a well-struck effort blocked by a Stockport defender before being able to test the home side's goal.
Nine minutes later and it perhaps should've been the opening goal, with another well-worked move seeing Zach Elbouzedi fire a tight-angled effort back off the post.
With Town starting to cause the league leaders problems, the ball was quickly transitioned from right to left and allowed Williams Kokolo to drill an effort that forced the save from Stockport's Ben Hinchliffe, this left the ball to fall to the onrushing Elbouzedi who looked to poke home, but with a difficult angle to convert from, the ball bounced back off the post and left Town looking to continue their threat.
Swindon's back-line was called into action midway through the first half when Stockport's Tanto Olaofe broke into the Town penalty area, but Kokolo was able to get back in time following his earlier chance, to get in front of Connor Lemonheigh-Evans and clear a few yards away from the Town goal, before Swindon did well to clear the resulting corner too.
Another big moment came in the 37th minute when Town keeper Jack Bycroft did very well to deny Olaofe from close range after making himself spread well to deny the Stockport forward just before the break.
This chance ended what was a frantic first half that saw both sides feel they could've seen themselves off the mark in this game, but left the second half nicely poised for both looking to find a winner in the final period of 45 minutes.
Half-time: Stockport 0 Swindon 0
Stockport came out strong and in the 53rd minute, Bycroft was called into action again with a smart reaction save to deny the home side's captain Paddy Madden, before responding to another goal-bound effort to deny the Hatters' Fraser Horsfall just before the hour mark.
The changes off the bench began to drip into the game to make it an exciting final 30 minutes that saw both teams pushing for a winner, with Swindon bringing on forward Aaron Drinan in search of the game's opening goal, which the 25-year-old was unfortunate not to find in the 77th minute with a brilliantly-struck first-time effort.
After the ball was played across from Harrison Minturn, Drinan looked to whip an effort back across into the top right corner with a well-hit strike that forced Hinchliffe into an impressive save to stop the forward from finding his first Swindon goal.
Following this opportunity, Stockport put pressure on Town's defence late on, but more strong defensive showings and a couple of great late saves from Bycroft kept the game goalless and Swindon came away from Greater Manchester with a respectable point this afternoon.
With this point away to Stockport, Swindon now look to their rearranged home fixture against Tranmere on Tuesday night as they look to build on this resolute defensive showing and offer more attacking threat back at The County Ground next week.
Stockport County: Hinchliffe, Touray (Bristow 45), Byrne (Pye 45), Horsfall, Madden (C) (Wootton 72), Sarcevic, Powell, Hippolyte (Bailey 72), Lemonheigh-Evans, Olaofe, Cass (Richards 87)
Subs not used: Smith, Johnson
Swindon Town: Bycroft, Blake-Tracy, McEachran (Aguiar 56), Elbouzedi (Drinan 63), Glatzel (McKirdy 78), Cain (Brewitt 63), Kokolo, Devoy, McCarthy, Minturn, Austin (C)
Subs not used: Brann, Hepburn-Murphy, McGurk
Referee: Carl Brook
Attendance: 9,389
