AS SWINDON Town’s players basked in the adulation of more than 500 travelling fans at the Macron Stadium, goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux and new boy Fankaty Dabo engaged in a victory dance.

It’s hard to imagine that any of those hardy souls sat in the away end, who had braved a three-hour-plus trip to be there, didn’t feel like joining in.

That playful moment of exuberance enjoyed by the visitors’ first-choice keeper and a young debutant offered up evidence that Town’s midweek foursome of loan signings, who arrived with an average age of just 21-and-a-half, may just have slotted into their new team seamlessly.

Swindon had indeed earned the right to celebrate however well they pleased.

Heading to Bolton Wanderers, you’d be forgiven for not giving the men from the County Ground much of a chance as they visited a promotion-chasing outfit that had tasted defeat at home in League One just once to date this season.

Founder members of the Football League and with a proud top-flight history, the Trotters’ adventures in the higher reaches of the table this term had been a world away from the struggles Town have endured but in the end, with a hearty dose of last-gasp drama thrown in for good measure, Swindon flipped the script and snared perhaps their most important three points of the 2016-17 campaign so far.

The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald:

Lawrence Vigouroux can do little to stop Bolton from taking the lead

And when David Wheater, a defender with more than 100 Premier League appearances to his name, volleyed Bolton into the lead shortly after half-time, it seemed as though Swindon’s obituary for the afternoon could be pencilled there and then.

But how wrong that was – courtesy of Ben Gladwin’s equaliser and Yaser Kasim’s 89th minute clincher, Swindon discovered their backbone and came from behind to win for the very first time this season.

After arriving at the County Ground by the bucketload in midweek, all four of Town’s loan signings were parachuted straight into Luke Williams’ starting XI at the Macron.

The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald:

New boy Charlie Colkett closes down Bolton's Lawrie Wilson

The returning Gladwin formed one of the two central points of a diamond-shaped midfield alongside Charlie Colkett, one of the trio of Chelsea youngsters to have swapped west London for Wiltshire for the remainder of the season.

Colkett’s Stamford Bridge team-mates Dabo and Islam Feruz began the game at left-back – Swindon were without both the injured Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill and suspended James Brophy – and up front respectively.

Forward Feruz’s start saw him take the place of the absent Jonathan Obika, with Raphael Branco helming the ship as captain as Town made five changes from the team that started their disappointing draw with Shrewsbury seven days previous.

Kasim also came in for his first start since Boxing Day but inside the second minute, he was closed down by two white shirts not far outside his own penalty area and that allowed Bolton’s top-scorer Zach Clough to drive forward and sting the palms of Vigouroux with a well-hit effort.

In the seventh minute, Clough took aim again from outside the box, with Vigouroux holding on to his curling side-footed attempt, and while Gladwin’s blocked shot on the edge of the area was as close as the visitors came to significantly threatening in the opening stages, the men in red felt themselves into the contest.

However, Bolton’s Clough remained a danger and shortly before the half-hour mark, he lashed a devilish cross-cum-shot across the Swindon area, but no teammate in white was adequately positioned to make contact as the ball whizzed past the upright.

With 38 minutes on the clock, forward Clough threatened yet again.

After debutant Colkett had shown off some nifty footwork, Kasim was caught in possession and the ball was coughed up to striker Gary Madine, who drove forward before going down easily under the attentions of Branco.

From a free-kick just on the edge of the Town box, 21-year-old Clough hit a dipping effort aimed for the top corner but his strike was met by the fists of a diving Vigourouox.

The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald:

Debutant Islam Feruz on the ball at Bolton

Shortly afterwards, Swindon created their best chance of the game so far as Luke Norris did well to turn Wheater on the edge of the area before laying the ball off to strike partner Feruz, but he saw his strike charged down and take two deflections before rolling harmlessly into the arms of Ben Alnwick.

With two minutes of the half remaining, ire poured down from the stands at the Macron as Branco, who was sent off for an elbow on Lawrie Wilson when the two teams met at the County Ground in October and had already taken a whack to the face himself earlier on, appeared to catch Madine with a flailing arm as the striker had his eyes on James Henry’s delivery.

Madine and his manager Phil Parkinson weren’t shy in informing the officials of their disgust but Town defender Branco escaped any sanction from referee Mark Heywood.

With the score goalless at half-time, it took just three minutes for the hosts to get the opener they so desperately craved, and it came from an unlikely source.

Ex-Liverpool man Jay Spearing whipped in an inswinging corner and Mark Beevers blocked the runs of two Town defenders to allow Wheater to swing his right boot and slam home a volley off the underside of the crossbar.

After getting their noses in front, Bolton had their tails up and swarmed forward time and again, with only the upright preventing Henry from squeezing a back-post header past Vigouroux.

Town were in need of some inspiration and on 65 minutes, it duly arrived, with two of the new boys at the fore.

The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald:

Ben Gladwin fires Town level at the Macron Stadium

Colkett clipped a sublime aerial ball over the defence and into the path of Norris and although the frontman was forced wide, he held off the attentions of Wilson before cutting back to allow Gladwin to smash a scorcher past Alnwick, by way of a deflection off the head of Wheater.

Having hauled themselves back on to level terms, Swindon should have been 2-1 up five minutes later when John Goddard drove to the byline and slid the ball into the path of the arriving Kasim, but the midfielder lost his balance and couldn’t provide the finishing touch.

However, Bolton were hardly going to take this Town resurgence lying down and at the other end, they lay siege to the Swindon goal, with Henry hitting the post with a low strike and Josh Vela seeing a shot deflected over the crossbar.

The hell-for-leather theme continued as Clough drew a save from Vigouroux and substitute Jermaine Hylton crossed for Colkett to hit a back-post volley but his strike was excellently blocked by a despairing Wheater.

And then came the decisive moment as Swindon strode forward with purpose once again, with Goddard seeing a shot blocked and the ball dropping to Colkett to the right of the penalty area.

The 20-year-old calmly lofted a cross to the far post and Kasim arrived with perfect timing to sumptuously dispatch Colkett’s delivery and send the away end into raptures.

There was still time for the hosts’ Madine to head just over the bar and Norris to have a shot turned around the post by Alnwick but in the end, the day belonged to Town.

It was certainly something to make a song and dance about.