SWINDON Town survived a late scare to book their place in the second round of the Southern section of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy with victory at League Two Newport County tonight.

With Mark Cooper shuffling his pack due to the absences of Massimo Luongo and Yaser Kasim, Jake Reeves and Jack Barthram were handed starts, with Tyrell Belford taking the place of Wes Foderingham in goal.

Minutes after Nathan Byrne had been forced off with a knock early on, Swindon wasted a chance to go ahead as Andy Williams got his touch all wrong as he got on the end of Barthram’s teasing low cross towards the far post.

Midway through the half, Williams exploded into life and flashed a powerful drive not far past the top right-hand corner of the County net before Aaron O’Connor wasted an opportunity to put Newport in front, with the striker dragging his shot wide from inside the Town box.

Jonathan Obika was similarly wasteful at the other end, somehow contriving to comically slice a strike harmlessly wide after he was picked out by Barthram whilst Reeves cut inside and cracked an effort against the crossbar after the ball was laid off to him by George Barker.

With five minutes of the first period remaining, Barker went close to putting the visitors in front after his toe-poked attempt, which rebounded off Newport keeper Joe Day, had to be stopped from rolling into the empty net by Adam Chapman.

On the stroke of half-time, Town finally made the breakthrough as Williams outmuscled Regan Poole and clipped a teasing cross to the far post, where a grateful Obika nodded home to atone for his earlier miss.

Nine minutes after the break, the home side should have levelled, with Christian Jolley’s chipped delivery somehow finding O’Connor unmarked but, from effectively the same position from which Obika previously netted, the Newport striker headed wide of the far post.

With 62 minutes on the clock, Williams handed Town some breathing space as he got on the end of Barthram’s ball down the right flank and deftly lobbed over the head of the onrushing Day, leaving three amber shirts to watch his effort float into the net to make it 2-0.

The hosts’ Joe Pigott made a nuisance of himself from a corner and nodded over the bar at the other end and Newport set up a tense finale with less than ten minutes to go as a well-worked move saw O’Connor get on the ball at the far post and shoot across the face of goal, allowing former Swindon triallist Yan Klukowski to tap home from a yard and half the deficit.

With four minutes to go, Barker missed the chance to settle any late nerves as he was set free in the area by Williams but the midfielder’s attempted finish pinged against the inside of the near post and rebounded to safety.

Newport launched an onslaught in added time, with Pigott’s improvised flick only finding the hands of Belford shortly after the 90 minutes were up before Jolley connected with a corner late on to leave the travelling Town fans with their hearts in their mouths, but his header was punched away by the Swindon goalie.

SWINDON TOWN: Tyrell Belford, Nathan Thompson (C), Jordan Turnbull, Nathan Byrne (George Barker 14), Andy Williams, Brad Smith (Connor Waldon 68), Jake Reeves, Josh Lelan, Louis Thompson (Anton Rodgers 57), Jon Obika, Jack Barthram.

Subs not used: Lee Marshall, Wes Foderingham.

Referee: Patrick Miller

Attendance: 1822