MARK Cooper was delighted to see Swindon Town finally become the 32nd team to book their place in the second round of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy with victory at Newport County.

Goals from Jonathan Obika and Andy Williams put Town in control at Rodney Parade before Yan Klukowski, a former Swindon triallist, set up a tense finish in South Wales.

But Cooper’s men held on to seal their progress through to the next round of the Southern section, in a clash postponed for three weeks due to political reasons, with Newport’s ground shut down earlier this month due to a NATO summit and the visit of the President of the United States.

“We had Barack Obama to thank for that, didn’t we? We couldn’t compete with Barack, so unfortunately, he took preference and we had to wait a few weeks,” joked the County Ground chief.

“But we’re safely through and we look forward to Plymouth.”

Cooper praised his side’s display against League Two Newport, despite Swindon being forced to withstand a late onslaught from the Welsh outfit.

He said: “I thought we played really well again with a much-changed team. (There were) some boys coming in for their first action of the season and I thought we played some really, really good football at times and it should have been a lot more comfortable than it was.

“Again, we make it difficult towards the end, which obviously is young boys gaining experience and picking the right option, probably trying to play too much when we need to just be professional towards the end.

“A lot of our attacking was very good. We started at the back with Ty (Belford), who came in and looked assured and made a great save at the end, and we had some real smooth attacks on their goal and for me, in my opinion, it should have been a lot more comfortable.”