DION Conroy headed home a 95th-minute winner as Swindon Town beat John Sheridan’s Oldham Athletic 1-0 at the County Ground on Saturday.

In a game where Town rarely looked like scoring, the club captain managed provide the vital moment of quality at the death – a goal which pushed Swindon up to sixth as a result.

It also further weakened Oldham’s chances of a "Shezurrection" under their current boss, who saw Jordan Clarke sent off for a second yellow late into the 90.

Ben Garner made three changes to the side that lost 3-1 to Exeter City in midweek. Mathieu Baudry, Jonny Williams, and Ryan East all dropped out in favour of Akin Odimayo, Jack Payne, and Jayden Mitchell-Lawson.

Meanwhile, new signing Mandela Egbo hoped to take the long walk to promotion with Swindon – he had to make do with a spot on the bench though. For Oldham, former Town men Christopher Missilou and Hallam Hope started.

It was the visitors who began on the front foot, with Carl Piergianni heading tamely at Jojo Wollacott prior to Davis Keillor-Dunn crashing off target from Dylan Bahamboula’s cutback.

Town’s first chance of the day came when Mitchell-Lawson crossed powerfully from the left and Payne volleyed well off target from the penalty spot.

Bahamboula combined with Keillor-Dunn once again as Oldham maintained their confident start, but Wollacott was quick to deny the League Two player of the month.

Midway through the first half, Payne and Odimayo both had shots from the edge of the box blocked as Danny Rogers remained relatively untroubled in the Oldham goal.

Referee David Rock was busy, booking four Oldham players and one Swindon man in Rob Hunt during the first half. Sam Hart, Nicky Adams, Piergianni and Clarke saw yellow for the Latics.

There were often chants from the home fans towards the club's ex-manager Sheridan, and with 10 minutes to play a clash occured on the touchline when words were exchanged between the Oldham boss and Town's experienced Frenchman.

Baudry muttered something towards his former manager when coming back from a warm-up. Garner, to his credit, tried to calm his defender down as the situation was quickly resolved.

On the pitch, Josh Davison headed wide from a Louis Reed free-kick while Mitchell-Lawson curled well off target from outside the box shortly before the break.

Town began the second half with renewed desire and energy, and they almost took the lead in the 48th minute.

Payne dribbled into traffic inside the box before turning back on himself and shooting towards the left corner. Rogers turned it away as half-time substitute Dylan Fage completed the clearance for a corner.

From the set-piece, the ball was worked out to Conroy around 30 yards out. He took a touch out of his feet before drilling an effort narrowly wide.

While Town were certainly the team on top, the chances were not being created with any meaningful threat.

After Town survived a Bahamboula run at Conroy one-on-one, Iandolo released Mitchell-Lawson down the left. He cut it back to Odimayo who in turn passed onto Iandolo. The shot was tame from the midfielder, and Rogers hung on.

Shortly after, Aguiar stung the palms of Rogers from range after being urged to shoot by the crowd.

Once Williams was introduced for Payne with 20 minutes to go, Iandolo was next to shoot from well outside the box. It was well hit but flashed comfortably wide.

Fage and Aguiar both picked up bookings late on as the total number reached seven. With a little over 10 minutes to play, new signing Egbo was thrown on in place of Mitchell-Lawson.

He was involved straight away when receiving the ball from Hunt down the right wing, but he was denied an instant assist by Rogers’ diving collection at the near post.

Town pushed for a winner by sending on Harry Parsons in place of Odimayo, but Oldham remained a threat on the counter-attack. Bahamboula again drove at Conroy on a breakaway, but his pass to Keillor-Dunn on the right saw Louis Reed dive in the way to block the shot.

Town also had a late chance on the counter-attack. After an Oldham corner, the hosts cleared and Davison pushed forward. He found Egbo who crossed left footed for Davison and Williams in the box. With Davison seemingly in a better position, the Welshman couldn't control his shot and it landed on the roof of the net.

As five minutes of added time were shown, Parsons had two shots from inside the box blocked by the tiring Oldham defence - the second of which was an excellent save from Rogers.

That defence shrunk in number shortly after as Clarke was sent off for his second yellow, and with the final kick of the game Swindon took advantage.

Iandolo's beautifully-taken free-kick from deep down the right was met by Conroy at the back post, and he powered the header into the net to send 11,000 home fans wild.

STFC starting XI: Wollacott, Odimayo, Iandolo, Conroy, Davison, Payne, O'Brien, Mitchell-Lawson, Hunt, Reed, Aguiar.

SUBS: Baudry, Ward, Egbo, Williams, East, Parsons, Minturn.

OAFC starting XI: Rogers, Clarke, Hart, McGahey, Piergianni, Adams, Whelan, Hope, Keillor-Dunne, Bahamboula, Missilou.

SUBS: Leutwiler, Fage, Stobbs, Hunt, Hopcutt, Couto, Vaughan.