TWO late goals from Northampton Town condemned Swindon Town to a 3-1 defeat at the County Ground.

Harry Beutyman gave the visitors a first-half lead before half-time substitute Sean Murray returned from injury to equalise in the 67th minute.

However, with Town on the hunt for the winner, Northampton dealt a body blow as two goals in five minutes from John-Joe O’Toole and Kenji Gorre inflicted a third straight league defeat at home for Town.

Head coach Luke Williams made one change to the side that beat Oldham Athletic at the weekend as Nathan Delfouneso dropped to the bench to be replaced up top by Luke Norris.

It took just seven minutes for Northampton to break the deadlock after a sloppy start from the home side.

Paul Anderson showed quick feet to work his way into the box and to the byline with ease before pulling the ball across the six-yard box for Beautyman.

The midfielder, who was a rumoured summer target for Swindon Town, did not make the cleanest of contacts with the ball, but it was enough to see his effort trickle over the line.

Swindon slowly started to find their feet in the contest when they looked to turn the screw on the half-hour mark and Northampton had some last-ditch defending to thank for maintaining their clean sheet.

A fine ball forward from Yaser Kasim played in John Goddard, whose shot was well blocked by the on-rushing Smith, before the Northampton was quick to his feet to deny Thomas.

The loose ball fell to the feet of Obika, who took his time in the box, only to see his effort blocked by a Northampton defender.

With the ball still bouncing in the box, it was Zander Diamond who got the telling interception as the Cobblers were able to clear their lines.

Northampton continued to look a threat at the other end and when referee Brett Huxtable played a good advantage to allow Anderson to race onto a through ball, but his attempt to pick out Sam Hoskins in space was well cut out by Thompson for a corner.

After the break, Lawrence Vigouroux had a momentary scare when his attempted clearance was closed down by Alex Revell, before Swindon looked to take control of the game.

After Matt Taylor saw a deflected effort skip the wrong side of Vigouroux’s net, Town were rewarded for their improved showing.

Darnell Furlong pulled the ball back to the edge of the box, where substitute Murray was lying in wait to fire first-time and curl his effort into far corner.

Swindon had their tails up and Furlong tried to follow up his assist with a curling effort of his own but that just went wide of the far post.

However, Rob Page rang the changes and it had the desired effect when Taylor delivered in a delightful corner in the 77th minute for the visitors and O'Toole rose highest to head the ball home.

The result was put beyond doubt five minutes later when substitutes JJ Hooper and Gorre linked up, with the former’s cross dummied by Revell for the latter to tap home from close range.

SWINDON TOWN: Vigouroux, Furlong, Branco, Thompson, Lloyd (Murray 45’), Ormonde-Ottewill, Kasim, Thomas, Goddard, Norris (Delfouneso 87’), Obika

Unused subs: Henry, Rodgers, Iandolo, Smith, Hylton

Referee: Brett Huxtable

Attendance: 6,590 (433)