THE demands of two football-mad sons, one dog, work and a lifelong affection for the oval-ball game means following the progress of Swindon Town on a Saturday afternoon is often restricted to snatched glances at the Adver’s Matchday Live blog or Twitter account.

The unwanted arrival of a new year chest infection last weekend, however, meant that the sofa and Gillette Soccer Saturday – not to mention a large glass of orange juice – accompanied the above mediums.

With the full gamut of League One goings-on laid out before me, what was illustrated once again were the fine margins on which Town’s fortunes could swing to and fro between now and April 30.

Minutes after news of Ben Gladwin’s equaliser had filtered through across cyberspace from my colleagues at the Macron Stadium, I glanced at my watch, which read 4.41pm, and began to reflect that, at that moment, a point valiantly earned from one of the candidates for promotion could prove a rare high spot in a season of regular lows.

Such thoughts were soon put in sharp context as I pored over the scores elsewhere in the division.

As if to mock the efforts of Luke Williams and co in the North West, all but two of the six other teams towards the bottom of the table were winning.

Of those that were not, MK Dons had seen their match at Port Vale postponed while Coventry were in arrears to another relegation rival in the form of Chesterfield.

Suddenly and paradoxically, Town faced the prospect of ending an afternoon in which they were achieving one of their finest results of the season even closer to the dreaded bottom four.

Yaser Kasim’s injury-time intervention at least ensured Williams’ men did not end the afternoon worse off but, given the final outcomes elsewhere, a dramatic end to Town’s afternoon was not so much a heady climax but a near-necessity.

Let’s not be over-churlish here. Last weekend was a welcome antidote to the largely non-stop tale of woe on the road for Town this season and the influx of loan arrivals appeared to provide a welcome shot in the arm for the battle to beat the drop.

And let’s not forget that Town are still unbeaten in 2017.

What Saturday underlined though was that a whole lot more than one-off, eye-catching results will be needed to assuage supporters’ anxieties.

If Bolton is to mean anything in the context of safety this season, it must be backed up against Peterborough tomorrow.

After that, they must show some long overdue backbone to deal with the special requirements of derby tussles with Bristol Rovers and Oxford – an attribute players and staff insist is present but has been conspicuous by its absence in recent local skirmishes.

February and early March bring a non-stop diet of fixtures against teams also looking nervously over their shoulders – Bury, Northampton, Oldham, Coventry, Gillingham, Chesterfield.

That period should define whether Town can achieve the mid-table safety they desire, or face a fight to the death for the final month and a half.

Last Saturday proved it’s likely to be on a knife edge as to whether it’s the former or the latter.