SWINDON Town completed the great escape for the second home League Two match in succession this afternoon as they came from two goals down to beat Tranmere Rovers.

Having beaten Macclesfield Town 3-2 at the Energy Check County Ground courtesy of two stoppage-time penalties on the opening day of the season a fortnight ago, Phil Brown’s side triumphed by the same scoreline over Rovers in equally dramatic circumstances.

Strikes from Jonny Smith and James Norwood saw Town 2-0 down inside 13 minutes before a red card for Tranmere’s Jay Harris turned the game on its head.

The hosts would have a numerical advantage for more than 70 minutes and swiftly made it count as Elijah Adebayo cut the gap before the break.

Town then went for the jugular after the restart and Marc Richards marked his comeback from injury with the equaliser before young central defender Joe Romanski completed the stunning turnaround with a scrappy winner from a corner.

Tranmere were the first to threaten and were inches away from the opening goal inside three minutes. A corner was played short to former Swindon loanee Ollie Banks, whose drilled effort to the near post was deflected narrowly wide.

Town’s first sight of goal also came from a set-piece when Michael Doughty was hauled down midway inside the Tranmere half, however, Matt Taylor’s free-kick was blasted straight into the wall.

The action soon went back up the other end and Rovers capitalised on some slack Swindon defending to break the deadlock after nine minutes.

Connor Jennings found space on the left-hand side of the Town box and drilled the ball across the face of goal, where the unmarked Jonny Smith was able to tuck home at the back post.

The hosts were again left to ask questions of themselves after falling two goals behind after only 13 minutes.

Olly Lancashire was beaten in the air by Cole Stockton when leaping to meet a long ball forward from Rovers keeper Scott Davies, and Norwood was able to brush off the attentions of Romanski to run in and beat Lawrence Vigouroux.

However, Town were given a lifeline in the shape of a red card for the visitors shortly afterwards as Jay Harris was shown a straight red for a late lunging challenge that caught Martin Smith above the knee.

Swindon would get to play against 10 men for 73 minutes and needed just three to take advantage when they reduced the deficit.

Doughty fed Adebayo on the edge of the box and he wriggled away from Jake Caprice to plant the ball under the advancing Davies.

Swindon boss Phil Brown responded by introducing another striker, Richards, in place of Toumani Diagouraga and the hosts continued in the ascendancy until the break – although no equaliser was forthcoming.

A good spell of pressure on the half-hour mark, which saw Doughty make a nuisance of himself in the box, ended with Martin Smith winning the ball and floating in a cross, which just evaded Adebayo.

Adebayo was then just not quite able to get on the end of a cracking ball in by Taylor, who himself then saw a fizzing low drive ushered behind by Davies for a corner.

As time half-time neared, Adebayo saw a shot blocked but was able to help the bounce-back into the path of Keshi Anderson, but he had to stretch and could not keep his effort down as Town remained in arrears as they headed back to the changing rooms.

Town remained on top after the restart but were initially restricted to long-range efforts from Doughty and then Martin Smith, neither which was close to the goal they craved.

Cracking work from Jermaine McGlashan on the right looked to create a clear-cut chance after 53 minutes when he picked out Martin Smith in the box after a good run and cross up the right, but again the effort was off-target.

An even better chance went begging five minutes later when Richards found Adebayo in space in the box, but his connection was poor and the ball dribbled safely into the diving body of Davies.

Thankfully, Town did not have to wait too much longer for the equaliser they deserved as Richards hauled them level on the hour.

Stephen Alzate, who had only been introduced six minutes prior for Martin Smith, danced his way into the box and picked out Richards on the penalty spot to slam a low first-time shot into the bottom corner.

After an extended spell on the back foot, Tranmere suddenly enjoyed a good spell of pressure and twice threatened to get their noses back in front.

First, Jennings cracked in a first-time effort that was well-gathered by Vigouroux and the Town keeper then made another fine stop to beat away a curling effort from Norwood.

Town heeded the warning and completed their comeback after 72 minutes when Romanski bundled them in front.

Although they deserved their lead, the goal was a comical one, however, as a corner was played short before Alzate drilled it low into the box where although Romanski failed to get a clean strike on the ball, it still trickled towards goal and Davies could not get across in time to keep it out.

Town then almost got themselves a fourth goal when a whipped 25-yard free-kick from Taylor took a wicked deflection off the way and looped just wide of the Rovers goal.

Swindon continued to dictate play in the latter stages but comfortably saw out the game without much alarm to hand their supporters another early-season win to savour.

SWINDON TOWN: Vigouroux; Knoyle, Lancashire (c), Romanski, Taylor; McGlashan, Diagouraga (Richards 25), Doughty, Smith (Alzate 54), Anderson (Dunne 83); Adebayo. Subs not used: McCormick, McCourt, Nelson, Iandolo.

TRANMERE ROVERS: Davies; Caprice (Mullin 84), Ellis, McNulty (c), Monthe; Smith (Mottley-Henry 62), Harris, Banks, Jennings; Stockton (Gilmour 69), Norwood. Subs not used: George, Tollitt, Cole, Spellman.

Referee: Alan Young

Attendance: Not announced