Tom Brewitt said that he and Charlie Austin had been joking about how he scored his first Swindon Town goal all season.

The 26-year-old, who joined Town in March of last year, scored his first goal for 476 days to send them two goals to the good during their 2-2 draw with Colchester United last weekend.

The defender’s last goal came in September 2022 during a USL Championship game for Hartford Athletic against Las Vegas Lights as he turned home the third in a 3-0 victory with 11 minutes remaining.

Late in the first half, after a long throw had initially been cleared away at the near post, Austin got on the end of a Remeao Hutton cross and nodded the ball into the path of Brewitt, who took a touch and then after the ball had dropped, he roofed it from inside the six-yard box.

Brewitt did find the back of the net from a corner during pre-season but this was his first competitive goal for the club and just his second in English football, something he said he would like to be able to offer the team earlier in the season.

After the game, Brewitt explained that he and Austin had been laughing about the way he got his goal all season in debates about how they wanted set pieces to be taken.

He said: “It has been a long time coming [getting my first goal], a really long time.

“We have had a bit of a joke, Charlie and I especially, about it because I like to demand a certain set play to me and finally one has come off where I have put it in the back of the net.

“It is a lovely feeling, obviously a bit bittersweet because it would have been all the better if it had secured the three points.

“Absolutely [we all need to chip in without Dan Kemp and Jake Young], if we would have won that then we would have been three points off the play-offs, so it is not like we are a million miles off it.

“We have slipped down the table in terms of position but points-wise we are not a million miles off it.

“The gaffer [Michael Flynn] certainly alluded to it through the week that as a squad we have got to step up and produce goals and thankfully I could help with that today.”