COACH Tommy Wright hailed a “vital victory” for Swindon Town after his team battled to a 1-0 win at home to Bristol Rovers on Saturday.

With the pair attempting to move away from the League One relegation zone, Brett Pitman’s late header decided a game in which neither side showed an awful lot of quality throughout the 90 minutes.

Wright conceded his team have played better than during Saturday’s derby success, but the former Leeds United midfielder was pleased with the discipline his players showed as they scrapped and fought to pull the game in their favour.

The Town coach said: “We’re really pleased with the result – we can play better and we will play better, but the result was vital.

“We realised it would be scrappy game with neither team in the best of form.

“Confidence wasn’t high between the two teams, and that affects people and teams, so it was really just about getting the result however we could.”

A second clean sheet was a vital addition to the three points for Swindon as before Saturday’s game, Town had conceded 36 goals in 16 games.

With Matej Kovar reinstated in place of Joe Fryer, the Manchester United loanee helped to keep Rovers at bay with a superb late save late on.

When asked what pleased Wright most about the victory, he looked to the defensive side of Town’s game.

He said: “I think the clean sheet. The clean sheet was needed to give us confidence.

“It was a scrappy game, it wasn’t the best quality of game with both teams not in the best of form, but a clean sheet and a victory was vital for us.

“We kind of expected a scrappy game in midfield so we said to the players that they would have to keep their discipline because it might be a one-goal game or a mistake that decides the result, and that’s exactly what happened.”