STEVE Robertson believes his Town Ladies side have shown their league credentials after a hard-fought 1-0 win over Forest Green Rovers.

Town are now three points clear of Rovers at the top of South West Division One after Meg Vella’s goal brought about victory in the clash of the table-toppers.

Swindon did not have it all their own way at the start of the match as their visitors started strongly. Robertson’s side soon settled and before Vella’s intervention could have had a couple more, namely when the linesman did not see an effort that crossed the Forest Green line before being scrambled away.

Once they had the lead it was the ability of his side to play out a clean sheet that was especially pleasing to Robertson. With the result, the Ladies manager has stopped resisting the urge to get keep a lid on his expectations this campaign.

“It is coming to that time of the season now where the league starts to take shape,” said Robertson.

“We’re serious contenders now I’d say, barring nothing goes seriously wrong in the next couple of weeks.

“The players have thought that for a long time – I tried to play it down. We’re still taking each game as it comes, but I look around the changing room and they all really want it. “There are two or three teams that are still in the hunt. We can definitely call ourselves challengers. We’ve beaten a team who would definitely think they are challengers “To win 1-0 was already especially pleasing after I gave the girls a bit of stick for not being able to keep a clean sheet a couple of weeks ago.

“Forest Green were a decent side and better than the team we played the first time faced them. Though we could have won by a few more goals, there’s nothing wrong with a 1-0 win.”

After Town’s shaky start and then the prolonged wait for a goal. Robertson was beginning to think it was not going to be his team’s day. Vella’s strike late in the opening half changed all that as well as her manager’s half-time message.

“It changed my team talk slightly. I told them to keep going and working hard.

“In the second half Forest Green ran out of ideas really. We just kept on doing the right things and Sarah Uzzell also had a goal disallowed.

“We did the right things, we almost won ugly today, for the girls that was really important. They’ve been working hard in training the last couple of weeks.

“That gives us a some breathing space over Forest Green. They’ve always been a bit of a bogey team for Swindon, so it is a bit of a statement win.”