SWINDON Town head coach Scott Lindsey felt his players were “dying for the cause” at the end of their 2-1 victory away at Grimsby Town on Saturday.

An extraordinary finish in which Swindon cleared off the line three times in second-half stoppage time resulted in the club’s third victory in a row.

Lindsey’s men took control early on when Luke Jephcott was quickest to react in the box, but they were pegged back 12 minutes later as Ryan Taylor took advantage of a fortunate deflection by slipping a shot past Sol Brynn.

MATCH REPORT: Swindon show mettle to hold on for inspired victory at Grimsby.

But Ronan Darcy netted the winner shortly before half-time to push Swindon – who later had Saidou Khan sent off for two yellow cards – up to eighth.

Post-match, Lindsey was delighted with the resilience shown by those left on the field.

He said: “What I found from the game is that my group of players are ridiculously hard-working, they stick to the task, they’ve got that unbelievable togetherness to see through the result.

“You saw it at the end, players were dying for the cause, which I was really, really pleased about.

“I was pleased for the fans because they travelled a long way, paid their money, and I want the fans to see players die for the cause. I thought they saw that today.”

After largely dominating the first 45, Swindon were put on the back foot after the break and forced to defend far more than they would have liked.

Khan’s dismissal made their task tougher, but Lindsey believed a switch in formation help Swindon’s cause.

Breaking down the second-half action, Lindsey said: “The game changed a little bit in the second half.

“We changed shape at the start of the second half because we felt they were getting a bit of control in the game. We flipped from a 4-3-3 to a 4-2-3-1 just to block up the middle of the pitch more.

“Just before Saidou got sent off, we were about to bring him off – believe it or not – because we knew with him getting a yellow he was at risk, and we wanted to bring Ellis Iandolo on.

“But then Saidou gets sent off, so we had to change our thinking. Unfortunately, Darcy was the one to come off.”