SWINDON Town assistant manager Noel Hunt said his side’s second-half performance was the difference between three points and just one as Jordan Lyden’s late header bagged victory against Northampton Town.

With manager Richie Wellens ill and unable to attend Tuesday night’s League Two encounter at the PTS Academy Stadium, Hunt led the County Ground outfit in their 1-0 success against a side that had beaten Swindon by the same scoreline at the County Ground earlier this term.

Following a scrappy first half that often frustrated both sets of supporters, the league leaders took control in the second 45 with a greater degree of care and quality than their hosts.

Assistant boss Hunt explained how proud he was of his team’s resilience before the break before expressing his delight at their quality after half-time.

He said: “The most satisfying thing about the win was the win.

“First half, it was a scrappy game and a second-ball game, and I felt that we dealt with that really well.

“We know teams are going to try and put it on us, but I felt like we dealt with that really well.

“We contested every first ball and we won the majority of the second balls.

“In the second half, I thought that we played with a little bit more quality, and on another night I thought we probably should have had two or three goals.

“We missed a couple of good chances and we picked the wrong option on a couple of breakaways.”

Following a frustrating 1-1 draw at Carlisle United on Saturday, Swindon bounced back with aplomb during their second away day in a short space of time.

Hunt revealed the message to his players before the game surrounded building on a decent performance in Cumbria and standing tall when crosses came raining down on their box.

With a stout defensive rear-guard looking as solid as ever, Town’s variable attacking quality proved most fertile as another three points was recorded to maintain their position at the top of the table.

Hunt said: “We asked the players to build on Saturday’s performance (against Carlisle), and they did.

“In the second half, I thought we looked really good and we were really fluent on the counter-attack and we got back to ourselves.

“We spoke about how important our midfield runners would be – Jordan and Michael (Doughty) breaking into the box was always going to be important.

“It was a great ball by Eoin Doyle, who worked really hard all game, it’s a great timing of the run and a great header.”