RUSHIAN Hepburn-Murphy scored twice as Swindon Town beat Harrogate Town 3-0 at the County Ground in League Two on Saturday.

Returning from a three-game suspension, Hepburn-Murphy appeared eager to make up for lost time and netted his first and second league goals for the club in the first half.

Following a nasty-looking injury for Sheffield Wednesday loanee, Ciaran Brennan prior to the break – which looks set to rule the centre-back out for some time – Joe Tomlinson scored on his second Swindon debut to match Harrogate’s margin of victory in the reverse fixture.

Consecutive wins under Jody Morris lifted Swindon up to 10th ahead of next weekend’s trip to League Two leaders, Leyton Orient.

Morris made two changes to the side which started last Saturday's 2-1 win at Salford City. Saidou Khan - following his post-match red card - was suspended for the first of five games while Frazer Blake-Tracy is out of action for five to six weeks with a knee problem.

Hepburn-Murphy returned after his three-game suspension, and Jonny Williams came back after concussion.

Tomlinson was fit enough for a place on the bench for his first squad appearance since signing on January deadline day.

There was a distinct lack of action in the opening eight minutes, therefore the overwhelming majority of the County Ground was overjoyed to see Hepburn-Murphy kick the game into life with a goal.

The first time Swindon attempted a long, searching ball forward - from the boot of Ellis Iandolo - it ended up in the net. Remeao Hutton's deep cross was headed back across goal by Hepburn-Murphy, and it just crept inside the right post as Mark Oxley stood flat-footed.

A very poor Harrogate side offered little in the way of attacking moments, aside from one Kazeem Olaigbe shot from the edge of the box that Sol Brynn caught above his head midway through the first half.

Jacob Wakeling should have done better with another Hutton low cross around the half-hour mark, but after cutting back onto his right, the effort was awkwardly scooped over.

The Robins all but put the game to bed shortly before half-time with Hepburn-Murphy’s second.

Moments after the majority of the home crowd booed Brennan for keeping the ball with no obvious option to pass to, Swindon worked it around defence and out to the left where Wakeling picked the ball up.

His low cross into middle broke kindly for Hepburn-Murphy, and the winger utterly shanked his left-footed shot into the bottom right corner.

A serious arm injury to Brennan forced the Sheffield Wednesday loanee off on a stretcher prior to half-time, with Dylan Kadji playing as a makeshift centre-back for the remainder of the game.

Naturally a defensive midfielder, Kadji was struggling in the back line and Harrogate enjoyed more of the early second-half chances as the visitors looked to exploit his inexperience.

Half-time substitute Danny Grant fired off target and then straight at Brynn from the edge of the box, while Luke Armstrong almost pulled a goal back following an Iandolo mistake.

He attempted to play back to Brynn first time but miscued his effort and set Armstrong in. Iandolo made up enough ground to put pressure on the Harrogate striker, and the eventual shot was straight at Brynn.

With 20 minutes to play, Tomlinson was sent on at left wing for Wakeling. Although it was not as high on quality as his first debut goal against Exeter City, the Chiseldon-born player managed a second debut goal with 12 minutes to play.

Tomlinson won the ball back inside the Harrogate penalty area and smashed a shot towards goal that was blocked. The rebound fell in his direction, and after he headed it towards goal quite tamely, Tom Eastman awkwardly sliced the on-target effort into the side netting anyway.

Substitute Ronan Darcy forced Oxley into a decent low save late on while Harrogate’s Olaigbe could have pulled one back with the last kick, but Swindon survived to secure consecutive wins.

STFC starting XI: Brynn, Hutton, Brennan, Clayton, Iandolo, Cain, McEachran, Williams, Wakeling, Austin, Hepburn-Murphy.

STFC substitutes: Copland, Tomlinson, Adeloye, Darcy, Jephcott, Kadji, Shade.

HTFC starting XI: Oxley, Falkingham, Olaigbe, Sims, O'Connor, Pattison, Sutton, Muldoon, Armstrong, Foulds, Eastman.

SUBS: Giles, Burrell, Thomson, Angus, Grant, McArdle, Daly.

Referee: Oliver Langford

Attendance: 8,756 (73)