CONNAL Knott was full of praise for opponents Devizes after Swindon were made to work for their 28-12 victory over the third-from-bottom side.

Devizes endured a nightmare start to the campaign and were beaten in 16 of their opening 19 fixtures in 2014-15.

However, they headed to Greenbridge Road in much better form having claimed three victories in their previous five matches, and a far tighter contest than in Swindon’s 35-7 victory on the road back in December ensued.

In the end, Swindon had just enough to claim victory but scrum-half Knott admits he and his team-mates came off knowing they had been pushed right to the wire.

“We were the better side but they weren’t a pushover by any means,” said a relieved Knott. “I know they have had a really difficult season but they were never going to lie down and just let us win.

“They came out at us with plenty of fight and that’s exactly what you’d expect in a local derby.

“They weren’t that bad a side, certainly not the worst we’ve played against this season. With the way they played on Saturday I think they could have done quite well with a bit more consistency in their game.”

Swindon had to come from behind to get the win as Devizes stunned the hosts when Jorge Wadman scored early on, converted by Andy Thompson.

Sean Lynn’s men rallied and a Tom Mannion try brought them level before prop Nathan Seymour barrelled over to put Swindon ahead. Adam Westall converted both scores to put the home side 14-7 to the good at half-time.

Swindon picked up where they left off in the second half, with further converted tries from Mark Chatwin and Ben Riley to secure the bonus point, although Devizes had the final word when James Gaiger crashed over late on.

The victory saw Swindon bounce back from a heavy 40-8 loss away at champions elect Chippenham.

Knott added: “It was good to get a win again after last week. It was a tough day for us against Chippenham and we knew it would be difficult again in another local derby.

“We didn’t play to our best against Devizes but I think that was partly down to them.

“We like to play quite a fast game but they were really effective at slowing our ball down.”