AFTER Town’s humiliation at the hands of Leyton Orient last Saturday, Mark Cooper’s side earned a credible draw in a painfully dull game at Crawley.

Ryan Mason made his long awaited return to action as a second half substitute after missing most of November through injury.

His impact on the game was instant as he set-up Swindon’s best chance of the evening and looked a constant threat, Town have looked at there best this season when the on loan midfielder has played a part.

Having Luongo, Kasim and Mason at the heart of the team will be key for the rest of the season, ideally with Pritchard and Byrne supporting Ranger up front, but that set-up doesn’t look likely in the near future.

Over the past week interest has once again been renewed in our highly rated goalkeeper Wes Foderingham.

After being one of the hottest properties outside the top two divisions last season, its no surprise clubs are taking a closer look at Town’s best player.

If Wes does decided to leave in January, I hope its to a club where he can fully reach his potential, and not a club like Bournemouth, which would only be a sideways move in his young career.

With the 2013/14 campaign now over a third of the way through; let’s take a look back at the top 5 moments of the season so far.

5. Wolves 3-2 Town – 14th September.

There are certain moments in a season where everything clicks, an understanding of what could possibly lie ahead starts to become clear.

Despite losing the game thanks to some suspect goalkeeping and defending, the clubs new style of football was on full display, and it was breathtaking to watch.

Never has a team dominated a game so much in the past and come away with no points, but Town did come away with something that day.

A huge amount of respect from their opponents, and from the Town faithful, as they witnessed what was in store for this season if the chairman & manager’s brand of football was fully woven into the club.

4. Town sign Massimo Luongo for £400K – 1st September.

After an impressive first loan spell at the club last season, it was exciting to see the Sydney-born midfielder join on a season long loan at the beginning of July.

But during Town’s 5-0 win over Crewe word started to spread over social media and around the ground that we’d signed the talented youngster on a permanent deal.

Which was received with collective shock that we’d signed Mass on a full-time deal and for such a small transfer fee. 

3. Town 3-2 Bristol City – 21st September.

A derby day win is always an important time in any season but our last minute goal was key for the entire month of September.

Town had just come of a poor display away at MK Dons and a strange moral boosting defeat to Wolves, and with a trip to Preston in the horizon we needed a maximum to maintain pressure on the top six.

Thankfully after being pulled back twice by struggling City, Nile Ranger struck to send the County Ground wild, and to secure a big win in our season.

2. Mark Cooper becomes Full-Time boss – 20th August.

Before the season had already kicked off Town found themselves without a manager, Kevin MacDonald had left the club for personal reasons, and his assistant Mark Cooper was put in caretaker charge of the club.

With names like Paul Tisdale, Les Ferdinand, Tim Sherwood, Glenn Hoddle and Ryan Harley all being mentioned, the former Kettering boss didn’t look to be in the frame.

But after a slow process and a good start to the season, Cooper was given the job full-time, a decision that has so far been the right one.

1. Town sign Ex-Premier League striker Nile Ranger – 16th August.

When the current campaign got underway at Peterborough in August, it was painfully obvious where Town needed to strengthen.

With Andy Williams and Miles Storey being the clubs only strikers a hunt got underway to bring in more forwards to the club.

Despite being a former Premier League striker, Nile Ranger’s name is more accustom to being on the front of newspapers instead of the back where it normally would be after a string of high profile incidents.

With one of those charges still hanging over his head, Town managed to sign the talented player on a free and help him get his career back on track, despite his recent absence, his signing has been a good move from Town.

How his trial works out next year will be key for Town, with him we have a huge change of success, without him the chance of a playoff place looks far away.

Follow me on Twitter @danjohnson_stfc