SWINDON Town have shown many impressive traits in the early stages of the new season – but perhaps one that will prove to be amongst the most important of all in the long run is that they do not seem to suffer with hangovers.

We may only be 10 fixtures into the League Two campaign following Saturday’s trip to Cambridge United but Richie Wellens’ side have already blown away a whole host of opponents.

After a run of three dominant wins in a row, Swindon’s momentum was somewhat stalled in their most recent match prior to the trip to the Abbey Stadium.

Wellens’ side turned in their most lethargic performance of the campaign to fall to a crushing 3-0 loss at home to Colchester United last Tuesday night.

At Cambridge, however, the disappointment of that result was shaken off with gusto at the first attempt.

There was no feeling sorry for themselves, no worrying if they had been found out. The Town players simply rolled their sleeves up and got back into their familiar routine – that is beating League Two rivals.

While previous victories have been built on incisive attack play, this one over Cambridge was more about dogged determination all over the park.

A strong first-half performance from the visitors was rewarded with a slender lead at the break as what turned out to be the game’s decisive moment came just before the half-hour mark.

Ellis Iandolo muscled his way into the United box before delivering across the face of goal for Jerry Yates to finish the job from close range.

Although Cambridge did have the better of the second half, genuine concerns over an equaliser never truly arose and the few good chances the hosts did muster were expertly dealt with by Swindon stopper Luke McCormick to ensure his side left with all three points.

Those have taken Town’s tally up to 20 from the opening 10 league games and although they end the day as they began it in fourth in the table, the gap to early leaders Exeter City has been halved from four points to two.

Town boss Wellens made just one change to the team that had started the midweek loss at home to Colchester.

That was enforced by injury as Mathieu Baudry failed to recover from the knock that saw him limp off early against the U’s, so Zeki Fryers came into his place in the heart of defence.

Tom Broadbent had been the man to replace Baudry on the night, but he missed out on a spot in the 18-man squad altogether.

However, there was a first matchday appearance for Sidy Sanokho, who was named on the bench having previously seen his arrival on a free transfer delayed by paperwork issues.

Town flew out of the traps and should have got their noses in front inside two minutes. Lloyd Isgrove whipped a lovely cross into the box and Yates was able to ghost between the two United central defenders to throw himself at the ball but could only send his header straight at keeper Dimitar Mitov.

The visitors continued to hold sway but their momentum threatened to stall after a quarter-of-an-hour when Keshi Anderson was forced off injured, with Kaiyne Woolery coming on in his place.

Cambridge enjoyed a good spell off the back of that and a good ball from Jack Roles almost sent Sam Smith in on goal through the middle but Swindon stopper McCormick raced off his line quickly to gather.

McCormick was called into action again shortly afterwards, claiming the ball as former Town striker Marc Richards failed to get a clean header on a free-kick into the box from the United right.

Town soon rediscovered their mojo and a superb team move yielded the opening goal just before the half-hour mark.

Woolery flicked Danny Rose’s pass around the corner into space on the left where Iandolo gathered and jinked his way by three would-be tacklers into the box before drilling across goal to find the lunging Yates to tuck the ball home.

The visitors remained the more threatening of the sides as the half wore to a close and were almost presented with a second goal in stoppage time before the break.

A loose Roles pass handed possession to Eoin Doyle on the left, and as he sent the ball back into the middle to Isgrove, Roles had only recovered enough to bundle him over on the edge of the box.

Rose stepped up to take the resulting free-kick and whipped a curling effort narrowly wide in the final action of the half.

Cambridge came out fired up after the break and only a superb save from McCormick kept the visitors ahead. Smith’s header from Richards’ cross looked destined to find the bottom corner of the net, only for Town stopper to scramble it behind.

McCormick remained the busier of the two keepers and he was called into action again on the hour as he comfortably caught a George Taft header following Roles’ free-kick from the left.

The Swindon stopper was proving a valuable last line of defence as he was then on hand to pluck a Smith header out of the air following Richards’ cross.

Wellens responded by shuffling his pack as first Michael Doughty and then Adam May were introduced off the bench for Isgrove and Rose respectively.

After a spell on the back foot, Town supporters may have thought their nerves were set to be eased with 15 minutes to go as Woolery raced forward into the box, only for home captain Greg Taylor to recover well to deny Town’s forward a clean strike at goal.

That led to a good period of pressure for the visitors and another chance came when home keeper Mitov failed to claim a corner, with the ball cannoning off the knee of Dion Conroy at the back post but bobbling wide.

Another chance to kill the game off for good came and went in the last of the 90 minutes as Woolery pounced on a loose pass from keeper Mitov to find substitute Doughty but he was crowded out just as he looked to shoot.

However, stoppage time passed without alarm as Town dug in to see out the victory and continue their excellent run on the road.