SKIPPER Olly Lancashire believes that Swindon Town realised three points were there for the taking as early as five minutes into the second half, following Saturday’s 2-1 success away at Notts County.

The home side controlled large parts of the first half of this League Two contest at Meadow Lane, with Town only buoyed by chances for Martin Smith and Marc Richards in that period.

A lacklustre performance by the hosts in the second half led to their downfall, though, as Town began to exploit gaps in County’s midfield and cut out passes regularly to reverse their one-goal deficit into a lead.

Despite trailing at the time, Lancashire spoke of the increasing confidence levels on the pitch following manager Phil Brown’s half-time team talk – which helped inspire Town’s first league win in five weeks.

Lancashire said: “Stick together, that has been the message all along. We had that belief – everyone pushed each other along.

“And in the second half, that’s exactly what we did.

“Winning breeds confidence. It doesn’t matter how well you are playing, if you’re not scoring goals or getting three points, it is hard.

“To come away from home and pick up three points is good.

“Hopefully we can now have a good week of training and kick on from that.”

Saturday’s game was affected by a severe drop in temperatures – compared to recent weeks – and strong winds which travelled in a south-easterly direction, ultimately benefitting the team shooting towards the Haydn Green Family Stand.

All three goals were scored at the same end, and knowing that Town had mother nature’s slight advantage on their side after the break gave Lancashire’s troops that slight psychological edge over Harry Kewell’s men.

Central defender Lancashire added: “We had a few good chances in the first half. At half-time, we got together and we understood that conditions were pretty windy.

“We had the wind with us in the second half and we took the game to them – two or three minutes into the second half you could tell that the boys were at it.

“We definitely deserved at least two goals.

“When the wind is as strong as it was, going goal to goal in one direction with it behind you helps.

“It was tough in the first half, but we definitely had two or three very good opportunities.

“In the second half, we felt like after five minutes that this was going to be our day – three points is very pleasing.”