SWINDON may have racked up 34 unanswered points on Saturday but head coach Sean Lynn was more pleased with his side’s spirited defensive resolve as they romped past Reading.

The shut-out was just the fourth for any side in the opening seven weeks of the South West One East season and ensured Swindon climbed above their hosts in the table and are now up to eighth.

After a dominant first hour on home turf at Greenbridge Road, Lynn’s men made life difficult for themselves when they had two players sent to the sin-bin in the closing stages but even with depleted ranks, they refused to be breached and clung on to record a rare clean sheet.

“To put 34 points on Reading is very pleasing but to not let them score any points of their own is even more satisfying. I was very happy afterwards,” said Lynn.

“Fair play to Reading. In the last 20 minutes, they didn’t stop coming at us and trying to put us under pressure, even though they were 34 points down.

“We made it a bit more difficult for ourselves by going down to 13 because we had two guys in the sin-bin but defensively we were very, very good. It was a huge effort from all the guys and they really impressed me with their attitude to not give in.

“We were really in control by half-time and during the break, we said to the guys that we really wanted that shut-out because they are so rare.

“The boys just refused to give in and played so hard for those closing minutes to make sure they didn’t ship any points. It was a great effort from everyone.”

Olly Wilson, Joe Jones, Guido Suez and Adam Westall all ran in tries to set up Swindon’s dominant bonus-point win, with the latter also firing over 14 points with the boot.

The victory follows up last week’s success on the road at Grove as Lynn’s men made it back-to-back wins for the first time this season, and the head coach was delighted with what was an excellent day all-round.

“You can’t be anything other than really pleased with all the guys when they are coming off the pitch at the end of a game like that,” said Lynn.

“We played really, really well and it was a very good win. Something has clicked together in the last few weeks and we’re all feeling really positive.

“It was Tim Berry’s last game as well because he is now going off travelling, so it was nice to give him a good send off with a result like that too.”