FRIDAY night's victory at Forest Green Rovers may have been the very definition of Swindon Town 'winning ugly' but for impact substitute Matt Taylor it merely brought the intense preparation of manager David Flitcroft and his squad into even sharper focus.

Veteran Taylor was introduced to the New Lawn fray as a second-half substitute as Chris Hussey limped off and delivered the 86th-minute corner from which skipper Olly Lancashire bundled home the winner before adding the coup de grace himself in injury time with a low 25-yarder that eluded the grasp of Rovers keeper Bradley Collins.

Taylor accepted that the contest may not have been easy on the eye, either for the 3,000-plus present or viewing public on television, but Taylor insisted that while the highlights reel may have been short there was still plenty to admire from the visiting side.

"It wasn't a game for the purist, I would say, but that won't bother any of us because we've come here and come away with three points and, ultimately, that's the main aim,'' said the former Portsmouth, Bolton and West Ham man.

"I think we've done very well away from home. We've been organised and compact and the shape's looked very good.

"We've worked particularly hard on that on the training ground with the manager and Futch (Ben Futcher) but it's still very early in the season and we've still got things we can improve on obviously.

"Players thrive on instructions. I think you can have a bit more freedom further up the pitch but in the first two-thirds of the pitch there has to be a good shape to the team and we've done that.

"We protected our goal tonight and it's another clean sheet.''

Taylor was pleased to see his late shot hit the back of the net, even if the bench were more keen on him heading towards the corner flag to play out time and he had a little help from Collins.

"It means a lot hut no more than the three points,'' he added.

"I think that at times during the game we were on top for large periods but didn't score.

"It hasn't happened too often this season that I've had a sight of goal. It's probably my first shot of the season actually.

"At the time it just opened up and I don't think it took a nick but if I was the goalkeeper I'd probably be disappointed I didn't save it.''

He added: "It was an odd game because the momentum was always with us, I felt, but Noz (Luke Norris) had a great chance in the second half and their keeper made a very good save and we were all maybe thinking it was going to be one of those nights.

"But we dug in and we've got three valuable points.

"I think the big thing is the only thing that's on offer in every game is three points so the manager definitely won't let us get carried away.

"But we're in a good space at the moment in terms of where the guys are and we're all working hard for each other and that was a real team performance you saw (against Forest Green).''