SWINDON Town rounded off their League Two season with an emphatic victory at home to champions Accrington Stanley this afternoon.

First-half efforts from Marc Richards and Keshi Anderson had the hosts in total control at the Energy Check County Ground before Paul Mullin added further gloss to the scoreline in the second half.

Both teams finished the game a man down as Town’s James Dunne and Accrington namesake Jimmy Dunne were both given their marching orders for a needless off-the-ball incident late on.

The win sees Town end the campaign ninth in the table, although boss Phil Brown and the club’s supporters will be left to wander where this sort of performance has been over the past month when their play-off ambitions were still very much alive.

Those aspirations were ended a fortnight ago in Town’s previous home game against Grimsby Town, so this result does at least give Brown a maiden victory at the County Ground in what could be his last game in charge.

Brown’s fate is set to be determined at a meeting with Swindon chairman Lee Power on Tuesday and the former Premier League manager will be hoping that a victory over the fourth tier’s title-winning side tilts the balance in his favour and he is asked to stay on into next season.

On a sun-soaked County Ground pitch, Town were the first to threaten and had a sight of goal inside two minutes when Rollin Menayese got his head to a Matt Taylor corner from the right, but Accy keeper Aaron Chapman made a comfortable save.

That spurred the champions into life and they had their first effort shortly afterwards, with Stuart Moore pulling of a fine diving stop in the home goal to push away Jordan Clark’s powerful drive.

League Two’s top scorer, Billy Kee, then had his first sniff of another goal when he got a flicked header to a Callum Johnson cross from right, but it looped narrowly over crossbar.

Stanley were now on the front foot and former Swindon player Kayden Jackson easily shrugged off the attentions of Menayese to chase a long ball over the top, although the Town defender was bailed out by centre-back partner Ryan McGivern, who got back well to block Jackson’s shot out for a corner.

Town soon got their act together and broke the deadlock after 14 minutes through Richards. Kyle Knoyle floated a perfectly-weighted cross to back post, which eluded the home defence and the unmarked Richards had the simple task of slamming the ball home.

Knoyle was proving a threat on the right for the hosts and another dangerous cross caused alarm in the Stanley defence before being hooked behind by Johnson.

With the title already wrapped up, Accy were never at full throttle and gaps began to appear for Town to exploit.

A nice interchange between James Dunne and Anderson sent the former into the box on the half-hour mark, but he could not quite pick out a team-mate with his cut-back.

Accy still offered the occasional threat and Kee made room for himself to shoot from 25 yards, only to be denied by Moore, before the hosts doubled their advantage two minutes before the break.

Anderson found James Dunne on edge of box, and he returned the favour with a sweet back-heel to allow Anderson to rifle past Chapman with a crisp finish.

Swindon’s lead could – and should – have been three at the break when Amine Linganzi’s perfectly-weighted pass split the Stanley centre-backs a minute into stoppage time and allowed Richards to run in on goal.

However, he took a loose touch just as he attempted to round keeper Chapman, and the visiting keeper was able to smother the ball and keep the deficit to 2-0 as the half-time whistle sounded.

Accy went close to cutting the deficit in the opening skirmishes of the second half when Jimmy Dunne was able to divert a corner goalwards, but Moore reacted well to keep the effort out.

Town went straight up the other end and threatened another goal themselves as James Dunne blazed over the bar after a skilful dart towards the Stanley box.

Swindon did not have to wait long for their third goal, though, and it arrived 10 minutes after the restart as after collecting the ball on the left-hand side of the box, Mullin darted towards the touchline before lashing under the body of Chapman at his near post.

And Town almost had a fourth goal on the hour when Taylor drilled in a low free-kick from the left that cannoned off a Stanley defender and onto the post and behind for a corner.

The home side still had to be wary at the back and Jackson was able to wriggle away from the attentions of McGivern in the box before firing goalwards but again Moore made a decent stop to see it behind.

Swindon had further chances themselves as the game headed towards its conclusion, with James Dunne and Mullin both seeing efforts blocked in the box, while Kee blazed wide for Accy at the other end.

Just as the contest seemed to be meandering towards the final whistle, an off-the-ball flare-up saw a player from each side sent off.

Stanley defender Jimmy Dunne lowered his head to meet that of James Dunne, who reacted by raising hands to his opponent’s face. Referee Gavin Ward was left with little alternative to brandish a straight red card to the Town man, while the Accy full-back followed him off for an early bath after picking up a second booking for his part.

SWINDON TOWN (4-4-2): Moore; Knoyle, McGivern, Menayese (Iandolo 64, Romanski 72), Taylor; Mullin, Dunne, Linganzi, Edwards (Elsnik 82); Anderson, Richards (capt). Subs not used: Henry, McDermott, Woolery, Twine.

ACCRINGTON STANLEY (4-4-2): Chapman; Johnson (Sousa 59), Hughes, Dunne, Donacien; Nolan, Conneely (capt) (Brown 72), Clark, McConville (Zanzala 72); Jackson, Kee. Subs not used: Maxted, Richards-Everton, Rodgers, Brown, Williams.

Referee: Gavin Ward

Attendance: 6,118