A LANDMARK afternoon for Swindon Town ended in bitter disappointment as former player Billy Bodin’s goal condemned them to defeat at Bristol Rovers this afternoon.

Bodin, who came through the youth system at the County Ground before making 16 senior appearances for Town, blasted home an unstoppable first-half effort to settle a slow-burning derby clash that never really lived up to a its billing.

Town’s trip to the Memorial Stadium marked the club’s 4000th league game, a journey that began all the way back in 1894 with a 4-3 loss to Reading in the Southern League.

Brophy was brought into the starting XI on derby day, the fleet-footed wing-back replacing Yaser Kasim as the visitors maintained their recent 4-4-2 formation.

However, the Swindon management team did chuck a curveball to try and catch their opponents unawares, with skipper Nathan Thompson beginning the afternoon in an unfamiliar midfield role.

Fankaty Dabo also played on the right side of the pitch for the first time in a Town shirt while new signing Dion Conroy, a 21-year-old central defender purchased from Premier League giants Chelsea on Friday afternoon, began the latest chapter of his career on the bench, and there was no place in the squad for versatile midfielder Conor Thomas.

Despite local bragging rights being on the line, both teams felt their way into the game, but around quarter-of-an-hour mark, Rovers began to turn the screw and were only denied an opening goal by the heroics of Swindon stopper Lawrence Vigouroux.

Bodin, a former Town man and the son of County Ground hero Paul, probably couldn’t believe his luck when Matt Taylor’s knock-down from a Lee Brown cross fell at his feet but the forward was left wondering how he hadn’t grabbed a goal against his old side as he was denied by a stunning point-blank save from Vigouroux.

The Swindon goalie was also at full-stretch to tip away a low Ollie Clarke effort and then Ben Gladwin saved the visitors’ bacon as he placed himself perfectly to knock away a goal-bound header from Rovers’ debutant central defender Ryan Sweeney.

After navigating that tricky spell, Town did find themselves behind with 30 minutes on the clock, with Bodin lighting the blue touch paper.

Swindon looked to have cleared their lines from a free-kick but the Rovers winger unleashed a fizzing left-footed volley from the edge of the box, which cracked off one post before bouncing into the net off the other.

With home fans in dreamland, Town showed few signs of hauling themselves back into the contest and they almost gift-wrapped a second goal for the home side five minutes before the break when James Brophy’s weak defensive header allowed Ellis Harrison to stab goalwards but Raphael Branco was on hand to clear.

Jermaine Hylton was introduced at half-time as Swindon looked to bring about a sea change and the striker finally drew home custodian Joe Lumley into action, albeit with a routine effort.

However, the visitors struggled to up the tempo as Rovers held on to their lead, with Ben Gladwin’s header from a Charlie Colkett free-kick, which cleared the bar, as close as they came to hitting back.

In the 63rd minute, the home side made a double substitution and replacements Byron Moore and Rory Gaffney almost combined instantly, with the latter miscontroling at the vital moment after latching on to Moore’s knock-down.

At the other end, Brophy’s cross-cum-shot was beaten away by goalie Lumley and the arriving Hylton was muscled off the ball as he looked to capitalise whilst with 75 minutes on the clock, Gladwin was robbed of possession by Clarke but the Gas midfielder couldn’t find a way past Vigouroux.

Two minutes later, Clarke cut inside and thundered an effort against the crossbar as Town looked in danger of sleepwalking to the final whistle.

Swindon did manage to muster a handful of chances in the latter stages, with Gladwin having a strike deflected just wide and substitute Jordan Stewart losing his footing at the opportune moment as he was picked out by Brophy’s accurate low cut-back.

In added time, John Goddard came close to snatching a share of the spoils as his side-footed strike was deflected, with Lumley wrong-footed, but the ball looped the wrong side of the post as far the visitors went home empty-handed.

SWINDON TOWN: Lawrence Vigouroux, Nathan Thompson (C), Raphael Branco, Lloyd Jones (Dion Conroy 89), Fankaty Dabo, Charlie Colkett, Ben Gladwin, John Goddard, James Brophy, Islam Feruz (Jordan Stewart 69), Luke Norris (Jermaine Hylton 45).

Subs not used: Will Henry, Anton Rodgers, Yaser Kasim, Sean Murray.

Attendance: 10,557 (1,189 away supporters)