Swindon Town beat Oldham Athletic 3-1 in League Two

Dominant for the majority of the contest, Town went a goal up before the break courtesy of Harry McKirdy. Simpson added a well-deserved second with 10 minutes to play before Carl Piergianni’s 90th-minute header halved the deficit.

But it was Simpson who would have the last laugh as he blasted in a stoppage-time goal on the break to help maintain Town’s unbeaten away record into an eighth game.

Town made three changes to the side that lost 3-1 at home to Bradford City last weekend. Dion Conroy returned to the side as captain, and Ellis Iandolo and Kaine Kesler-Hayden slotted in at the back. Rob Hunt, Akin Odimayo, and Jack Payne dropped to the bench as Town reverted back to the 5-3-2 formation in which they have had so much success previously.

Garner named a strong-looking bench too, even without Jordan Lyden or Anthony Grant. For Oldham, former Swindon forward Hallam Hope started up front.

In a first half that Town largely dominated, it took until the 10th minute for the first real chance of the game. Mathieu Baudry played a diagonal from well inside the Oldham half over to McKirdy who headed back across goal.

Jonny Williams tried his best to get something on it and pressure his marker, but Jordan Clarke did well to snuff it out as it dribbled into Jason Leutwiler's hands.

Louis Reed saw a well-hit free-kick from the left parried away by Leutwiler in the 15th minute, moments before Ben Gladwin curled a beautiful cross in from the right that McKirdy volleyed wide with his left.

Midway through the first half, a simply outstanding block from Clarke denied Tyreece Simpson the game’s opening goal. Another slick Town move that began with an Iandolo cross was flicked on by McKirdy but found its way to Simpson. With the Swindon striker’s turn and shot seemingly destined to hit the net, Clarke threw himself in the way to block it out.

Oldham saw a rare chance go begging shortly after when Harrison McGahey volleyed wide when stretching for a free-kick from the right by Jamie Bowden.

But with half an hour gone, Town finally made their dominance count with the game’s first goal. A slick move down the left saw Williams find Iandolo again, and the left-back slammed a cross along the face of goal that McKirdy applied a delicate touch to to divert the ball into the net.

Hope almost equalised straight away for Oldham after heading a flicked long throw at goal, only for Jojo Wollacott to beat it out.

Aside from a couple of long-range McKirdy efforts, and a delicious cross from the right by Gladwin that went un-finished, Town enjoyed long spells of possession without threatening the goal in the remaining minutes of the first half.

The second half continued as it had ended, with Town on top. In the 53rd minute, McKirdy spun away from a challenge on the left and dinked a nice pass into Simpson that the striker was unable to control. Kesler-Hayden got on the end of it, but Leutwiler blocked it out with his feet.

10 minutes into the second half, there were two key moments. First, Conroy was lucky not to give away a penalty on Hope after losing the ball by his own by-line. Hope went down in the box under pressure from the Town captain, but the referee carried on.

Moments later, Gladwin charged forward and slipped in Simpson, but Leutwiler pulled off another good low save with his boot to turn the ball out.

Following that save, Oldham enjoyed a 15-minute spell of pressure that saw the Town defence tested, concentration-wise. Baudry, Conroy and half-time substitution, Odimayo all made vital headers, blocks, or clearances as Oldham tried to forge out a chance.

With 20 minutes to go, Town thought they'd scored a second after substitute Payne tried to cross from the left and Simpson scrambled home the rebound. However, the linesman had already raised his flag to signal the ball had gone out when Payne crossed.

With 10 minutes to go, Town did score their second following a wonderfully-weighted chipped through-ball from Reed towards Simpson. The teenage striker took the ball down on his chest, held off his man, and slammed it home with his right one-on-one.

With the second goal seeming to take the stuffing out of Oldham, Town continued knocking the ball about and only really ventured forwards on a handful more occasions.

Yet as the 90th minute ticked by, the hosts halved the deficit in painfully simple fashion. A corner in from the Oldham right was deep towards the back post, and an unmarked Piergianni powered his header past a helpless Wollacott.

There would be no Oldham comeback, however, as Simpson doubled his tally in fine style. Payne worked a bit of space down the left and slipped a pass through to Simpson, but it was the teenage striker who did all of the hard work.

Running at Piergianni, Simpson shifted the ball onto his left and lashed into the side netting to kill off any hopes of an Oldham comeback.

OAFC starting XI: Leutwiler, Clarke, Piergianni, McGahey, Hope, Whelan, Bettache, Bowden, Couto, Bahamboula, Keillor-Dunn.

SUBS: Southerington, Page, Da Silva, Diarra, Vaughan, Edwards, Modi.

STFC starting XI: Wollacott; Iandolo, Conroy (C), Crichlow, Baudry, Gladwin, Simpson, McKirdy, Williams, Kesler-Hayden, Reed.

SUBS: Ward, Odimayo, Payne, Gilbert, Mitchell-Lawson, Hunt, East.