FOUR days after the Cambridge United calamity at the County Ground, Phil Brown’s Swindon Town had to respond with an impressive display against struggling Notts County last weekend.

Thankfully, they came away with the three points, albeit in an unconvincing manner as they had to rely on Jamie Turley’s own goal to earn their first win in seven League Two games.

As expected, the manager made big changes to his starting 11, which saw Martin Smith, Jak McCourt and James Dunne all start in midfield, which was an odd, and ultimately wrong decision.

None of those three played badly but Town lacked a real creative spark in midfield, something that was missing until the introduction of Steven Alzate.

With hindsight, I’m sure Brown would’ve started Alzate instead of McCourt, and it’s odd that he chose to leave him out after his impressive season so far.

The Brighton & Hove Albion loanee scored another superb goal to add to his collection this season, but his goal to bring us level wouldn’t have happened without the tenacity of Smith as he won the ball back in midfield.

Smith had become Swindon’s forgotten man after just three starts in the previous 13 games, but he put in a good performance and will possibly continue to keep Toumani Diagouraga out of the side.

Another player who made a strong case for a start this weekend is Jermaine McGlashan. The former Southend United winger showed his importance once again as he tormented the County defenders, especially throughout the second half.

If Brown persists with playing one central striker and two wide men, both McGlashan and Keshi Anderson need to start as wingers with Elijah Adebayo playing through the middle, dropping Marc Richards to the bench.

This weekend, Swindon travels to Essex to face in-form side Colchester United.

Former Town striker Luke Norris now leads the line for the U’s, and has enjoyed a good start to life with his new club, scoring eight goals in 16 games this season.

If he puts in a performance we were used to seeing at the County Ground and Brown’s side can take their chances, we’ll be finally heading in the right direction again this season.