PHIL Brown has heaped praise on goalkeeper Luke McCormick for his pivotal part in Swindon Town’s first clean sheet of the season.

McCormick produced a number of stunning saves as Swindon held on for a 1-0 win at Morecambe in League Two on Saturday – the most notable being a wonderful reaction stop to prevent Liam Mandeville equalising in first-half stoppage time.

The match marked a league bow for Town for former Plymouth Argyle keeper McCormick, who was only playing at the Globe Arena due to regular number one Lawrence Vigouroux being away on international duty with Chile.

The visitors were forced to dig deep for the win in Lancashire, having been on the back foot for a prolonged spell following Kyle Knoyle’s red card 10 minutes before half-time.

Vigouroux will also be away for tonight’s Checkatrade Trophy clash at home to Newport County, and after urging McCormick to stake his claim for the shirt, Brown was impressed by what he saw against the Shrimps.

“The turning point of the whole game wasn’t the red card, it was the save just before half-time. It was a world-class save,” said Brown.

“I said to Luke: ‘You have got two games to keep Lawrence Vigoruoux out of the team’.

“Lawrence will understand that, Lawrence knows I am all about a clean sheet mentality.

“It is not as though Lawrence has been redundant, he has been worked hard. The goals he has conceded, I think I can only apportion of one them to him with blame.

“Luke will have loved that (the scenario at Morecambe), he will have been there a million times.

“When you are down to 10 men, it is backs to the wall. He gets his tin helmet out, which he has probably worn quite a number of times in the 500 or 600 games he has played, he dons it and then he doffs it at the end to the fans because he has done his job.”

At the other end of the pitch, Elijah Adebayo was Town’s match-winner against Morecambe after getting the only goal of the game 26 minutes in.

That was a third goal in five games for the on-loan Fulham striker, who had a previous loan stint at Cheltenham Town in the second half of last season.

After making an instant impact in Town colours, Brown is relishing the prospect of watching the 20-year-old develop at the Energy Check County Ground.

“I think there is a player in there,” said Brown.

"There is no doubt in my mind that the second loan certainly works.

“If the first loan is successful, normally the parent club brings him back and he is there for a period, but Fulham wanted to loan him out again, and you can see the benefits of that.

“Every so often you have got to pull them out and leave them on the bench and just throw a little curve ball their way and see how they react because it is a big man’s game and he is only a boy. He may be a big boy, but he is only a boy.

“You have got to educate them and that is what he is doing. He is going through the education process of what it takes to be a pro footballer at 19, 20 and 21.

“When he becomes 24 or 25, he we will be through that and he might have 100 goals to his name because he is a goal threat.

“The size of the lad is something to admire – the physique, the running ability, the aerial threat and his touch.

“Elijah has got that ability to control the ball. For some reason, people think the further the ball is away from your head to your feet, your touch must be poor.

“Elijah’s is not. It is an ability and he has got that ability. Hopefully we will get the benefit of that for the rest of the season.”