CONOR Thomas’ stoppage time strike breathed new life into Swindon Town’s League One relegation fight as they edged to victory over promotion hopefuls Millwall this afternoon.

Although Town remain in the drop zone, the win ends a run of four successive defeats and gives them renewed hope that they can still claw their way back up the table with six games to go.

Luke Williams’ side were the more threatening of the teams at the County Ground all afternoon but struggled to break down a stubborn Millwall defensive effort but they finally got they reward in added time when Thomas lashed home from inside the box.

Town goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux had to be on his toes in the fifth minute when opposite number Jordan Archer went route one with a counter attack following a Charlie Colkett corner but Lee Gregory’s effort was easily gathered.

The contest then petered out into a lacklustre affair and it took until the 22nd minute for the first genuine chance to materialise. Rohan Ince drove forward and fed Jonathan Obika in the box and the Town striker laid off to Thomas, who in turn found John Goddard, and his curling effort was pushed behind by the diving Archer.

Millwall looked most likely to threaten on the counter attack and another long ball from Archer just after the half-hour mark had the Town defence worried as Gregory was able to squeeze between Raphael Branco and Dion Conroy but his first-time effort went safely wide.

Town had a big claim for a penalty waved away seven minutes before the break when Goddard found Obika in the box. The striker was able to roll away from Jake Cooper only to then go down under pressure from the Lions defender, but referee John Busby was not interested in the hosts’ appeals.

Swindon mustered up one more meaningful effort a minute before the break when Colkett cracked in a strike from 20 yards after good work from Obika but Archer got down well to push it away and the spinning ball just eluded Nicky Ajose as he looked to pounce.

The hosts continued to be the more attacking of the sides after the break, although they were still did not must up anything particularly dangerous.

One such foray forward was only half-cleared by the Lions and skipper Nathan Thompson brought the ball down before trying a spectacular half-volley from 25 yards but it flew straight at Archer.

Archer was almost caught out just before the hour mark when he slipped trying to adjust his positioning to a deflected Obika strike, although the Millwall keeper reacted well to push the ball away just as Ajose looked too gobble up on the rebound.

Again, there was a further lull in proceedings as Town saw plenty of the ball but failed to ever really open up a stubborn Millwall back-line and genuine chances dried up once more.

The resistance looked like it might finally be broken with nine minutes to go when a Colkett corner looped up and down in the box after a succession of headers before finally breaking to Branco at the back post but the centre-back lashed high and wide.

Town fans then had their hearts in their mouths with five minutes to go when Lions substitute Fred Onyedinma whipped in a dangerous cross from the right, with Town defender Conroy slicing his attempted clearance narrowly wide of the post.

The home side looked to rally again but seemed destined to be frustrated in their efforts, only to finally get a deserved breakthrough in stoppage time.

Vigouroux pumped a long ball forward, which Obika leapt to flick on, allowing Ajose to dart into the box and although his shot fired straight into the midriff of full-back Mahlon Romeo, it broke perfectly into the path of Thomas, who rifled past Archer from 10 yards to send the home players and fans into raptures.

SWINDON TOWN: Vigouroux; Thompson (capt) (Barry 89), Conroy, Branco, Dabo (Brophy 70); Goddard (Norris 70), Ince, Colkett, Thomas; Obika, Ajose. Subs not used: Henry, Kasim, Starkey, Jones.

MILLWALL: Archer; Romeo, Webster, Cooper, Craig (capt); Wallace, Butcher, Williams, O’Brien (Onyedinma 56); Morison (Ferguson 71), Gregory. Subs not used: King, Cummings, Hutchison, Worrall, Thompson.

Referee: John Busby

Attendance: 7,038