Swindon's Michael Doughty is taking centre stage

Since arriving at the County Ground from Queens Park Rangers on an initial one-month loan in January, the 23-year-old midfielder has wasted little time in establishing himself as a key cog in the Town engine room.

After impressing with his verve, flexibility and obvious talent with a ball at his feet last season, it was perhaps little surprise that when Doughty returned to west London at the end of the 2015-16 campaign – his loan was eventually extended until June – his time in a red shirt was far from over.

The deal may have only been announced on the eve of last month’s League One curtain-raiser against Coventry City but to secure the services of the QPR man for the entirety of this season was a relative coup for Luke Williams’ side, who are now savouring the fruits of Doughty’s second Swindon spell.

To borrow from cliché, it’s almost like he’s never been away.

Doughty ended last season at the forefront of all that was good about Town and despite spending pre-season away from Wiltshire, his influence hasn’t waned an iota, with the midfielder slotting back into his sparkling old routine with ease.

Statistics never tell the full story but put simply, he’s been sublime.

Doughty has scored or assisted in eight of his last nine appearances for Swindon and this season, he has had a hand in all six league goals that Williams’ troops have netted.

Had he been allowed to feature against parent club QPR in the EFL Cup in August, perhaps the Doughty roll of honour would make even more impressive reading?

Man of the match Michael Doughty successfully appeals for a penalty, which he converted before giving his post-match verdict to Sky Sports

Against Peterborough United on Saturday, the former Wales U21 international was at it again and in more ways than one, he found himself right at the crux of proceedings.

Late in the first half, he was adjudged to have fouled the hosts’ Marcus Maddison by referee Tim Robinson, with the TV cameras showing that Doughty cleanly won the ball with his lunging challenge, and from the resultant set-piece, Gwion Edwards put the Posh in front.

But in the second period, the loan ace saw a shot handled by Peterborough defender Michael Bostwick before slotting home from the penalty spot to make it 1-1 and then late in the day, Doughty’s low cross from the left was diverted into his own net by the unfortunate Jack Baldwin to hand the visitors a second leveller.

It was far from a quiet afternoon for a man consistently entrenched in the thick of the action.

As a result of their international commitments for Iraq and Northern Ireland’s U21s respectively, Yaser Kasim and Jamie Sendles-White were unavailable, so the latter was replaced by young full-back Darnell Furlong, who deputised as part of Town’s central defensive trio.

Williams also opted to bring in John Goddard for his first involvement since August 16, with the ex-Woking man playing behind the striker whilst Bradley Barry was brought back into the starting line-up.

Barry and James Brophy would attempt to offer width and support lone frontman Nathan Delfouneso, with Luke Norris dropping to the bench.

When the action got under way, both sides sprayed the ball around nicely during the embryonic stages of the contest but there wasn’t too much to shout about, with the hosts’ Tom Nichols firing the first shot of the match horribly wide.

Despite some encouraging build-up play, Town were finding it difficult to conjure up an accurate final ball and it took them until the 13th minute to threaten, with Goddard hitting a side-footed effort from the edge of the Posh area that proved comfortable for veteran goalie Mark Tyler to catch.

The visitors’ movement in the final third continued to cause Peterborough problems but a string of set-pieces failed to yield any reward whilst crosses from wide areas also failed to hit the mark, with both Barry and Brophy guilty of overhitting deliveries from promising positions.

Just before the half-hour mark, the best opportunity of the match so far fell the way of the home side when right-back Jermaine Anderson chased down a seemingly lost cause and latched on to the ball in space.

Anderson hit the byline and then cut the ball back into the area but his pass was comically missed by two arriving team-mates and Swindon were let off the hook.

With less than 10 minutes of the first period to go, an uncharacteristic lapse in concentration from Doughty led to the hosts getting their noses in front, with the midfielder gifting possession to Marcus Maddison with a casual backheel before conceding a free-kick as he was controversially adjudged to have fouled the fleet-footed Posh man in an attempt to win the ball back.

From the resulting set-piece, Maddison whipped a devilish delivery into the Town area and with two blue shirts arriving with perfect timing, Edwards bundled home from point-blank range to open the scoring.

Marcus Maddison (left) puts Posh ahead for the second time from the spot, while Posh’s George Moncur (above) fires a free kick against the Town wall.

Swindon were to stay behind leading into the break but they very nearly levelled things up on the stroke of half-time as a patient passing move ended with Conor Thomas playing in Goddard, whose low effort rolled agonisingly wide of the far post.

Looking to press home the issue, Peterborough began the second period on the front foot and Nathan Thompson had to be alert to block Paul Taylor’s goalbound effort two minutes after the interval.

But Swindon raced straight up the other end and from a throw-in on the left flank, they teed up an equaliser.

Goddard and Doughty linked up and the latter saw his goalbound shot strike the arm of a diving Bostwick, leaving referee Robinson to point to the spot.

Having caused the award of the penalty, midfielder Doughty took the resultant kick himself and squeezed the ball home past Tyler from 12 yards to level things up.

But that wasn’t to be the only spot-kick of the game.

With 62 minutes on the clock, dangerous Peterborough striker Taylor got in down the right flank and clipped a teasing cross over the heads of a clutch of waiting players, with Sean Murray, only just sent on for his Town debut, waiting to mop up the danger.

However, the ex-Watford man failed to notice that he was being closed down by Posh skipper Chris Forrester, who nicked the ball and was then brought down as Murray trailed a leg, allowing Maddison to blast home an unstoppable penalty to make it 2-1.

But Swindon weren’t done and with 15 minutes to go, they hauled themselves back into the match once again as Doughty arrowed in a low cross from the left flank and a sliding Baldwin diverted the ball past his own goalie and into the net.

There was still time for Barry to have a shot deflected over the Posh crossbar and Luke Norris to fire across the face of goal as what began as a game that began as a slow burner ended as a full-blown nail-biter.