FOR some at the County Ground on Saturday, Town’s victory against Woking provided more than just progression to the second round of the FA Cup.

It may not be up there with one of the performances of the season but a first clean sheet since the start of September brought a big smile to the face of the Swindon back four.

Forget the level of their Blue Square South opponents – Danny Wilson’s side have been leaking sloppy goals over the past few weeks and this shutout, coupled with Billy Paynter’s first half header, was a timely reminder of just how resolute they can be.

Stand-in keeper Phil Smith was restricted to claiming crosses and fielding a couple of weak long range efforts as the men in front of him dealt with everything thrown at them.

And, potential banana skin avoided, Town centre-back Gordon Greer is determined to take their impenetrable status into their league and cup action over the coming weeks.

“As a defence we’ve played a lot better and conceded goals, but it’s a clean sheet and that’s great for us,” admitted the captain.

“We’ve lost rubbish goals recently but it’s good for the team to get that clean sheet. We had a few at the start of the season and have probably merited more than we’ve actually got.

“Today I thought we defended well. We can do a lot better but it’s a clean sheet and Phil didn’t have many saves to make. It’s a big bit of confidence in the dressing room.”

Although Woking made a lot of the early running, with winger Rikki Anane impressing down the right flank, they were unable to match their endeavours with any quality in the final third.

Swindon slowly began to assert their dominance and Paynter went close twice in as many minutes – first sending a far post header onto the roof of the net, before curling a low effort straight into the arms of Cards keeper Ross Worner.

The stopper denied Town’s leading scorer with a good save on the line from another header, before Jon-Paul McGovern curled a free-kick into the side netting from 25 yards.

However, nine minutes before the break the hosts finally took the lead and it was no surprise to see in-form Paynter as the man celebrating.

McGovern’s near post corner was nodded into the far corner by the big forward, and despite a linesman’s flag threatening to rule out the goal for a foul on Worner, referee Fred Graham allowed the strike to stand.

A poor second half was devoid of much quality from either side but it was Swindon who showed a bit more of a threat on the opposition’s goal.

Anthony McNamee and Michael Timlin both forced Worner into saves, while substitute Ben Hutchinson cleared the bar with an overhead kick.

They were unable to add to their advantage, but Greer was just happy to be through a tricky tie.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game whether we won 1-0 or 5-0,” he said.

“You can’t win in these games. Everybody expects you to win but it’s never going to be easy.

“We controlled most of the game and I thought we should have got a few more goals, but we never played as well as you’ve seen us play. It was still a good victory though for us.

“It didn’t matter what happened today – as long as we won and were in the hat for the next round then that was all that counts.”