ONE of the two remarkable runs associated with Swindon Town had to come to an end at some point.

But with little over half-an-hour played against Forest Green Rovers at the New Lawn on Saturday, few of the club’s thousand-plus travelling supporters could’ve foreseen either being lost.

Of course, we are referring to Town’s seven-game winning spree in League Two and Eoin Doyle’s outstanding run of scoring in nine successive league appearances.

A tame opening quarter-of-an-hour passed before Doyle confirmed his scoring form would extend beyond Christmas and into a 10th fixture.

A bonus second 19 minutes later appeared to have wrapped up another three points for Richie Wellens’ dominant side, albeit with just under an hour remaining in the game.

But Swindon lad Joseph Mills – who played for Aston Villa and Southampton as a scholar – dug in to haunt his hometown club by striking a second-half brace, the second of which came in the dying seconds of injury time from a corner.

Swindon’s remarkable winning run may be over, but they sit top of the table at Christmas – a position that has traditionally stood teams in good stead for a promotion-winning season.

This decade, only two teams have failed to win promotion having topped the League Two table on Christmas Day.

Wycombe Wanderers (2014) and Plymouth Argyle (2015) both missed out through the play-offs.

Furthermore, Chesterfield (2010 and 2013), Gillingham (2012) and Lincoln City (2018) went up as champions.

Recent history might be on Swindon’s side, but work is still to be done – on and off the field.

It’s wrong to question where goals are coming from in Wellens’ permanent squad members when you have players like Doyle and Jerry Yates scoring for fun – they are doing their job to allow contracted players to be effective in their favoured positions.

But there is a genuine threat that those two loanees could be lost – and that’s without mentioning midfielder Anthony Grant or keeper Steven Benda.

Then there are contractual issues to solve. Paul Caddis is only in on a short-term deal, while Dion Donohue’s arrival will only supposedly free up in January.

In short, this winning team could theoretically be decimated in the coming weeks. A ‘Plan B’ is said to be in place – many will hope it won’t come to that.

Against Forest Green on Saturday, Wellens made one change to the Town team that defeated Oldham Athletic in unspectacular fashion at the County Ground a week ago.

Keshi Anderson started for the first time since November 2, with Diallang Jaiyesimi the player to miss out.

A tame opening quarter-of-an-hour didn’t exactly whet the appetite. But man of the moment Doyle soon got the away end rocking when scoring his 20th goal of the season.

Doyle’s opening was the culmination of a period of sustained pressure on the edge of Rovers’ penalty area where Mathieu Baudry, Michael Doughty and Rob Hunt linked up well in front of 10 home players.

The latter delivered an exceptional cross to pick out Doyle, whose effort was nestled into Adam Smith’s bottom corner.

Town’s opener sparked a period of possessional dominance for Wellens’ finely-tuned XI.

By contrast, Rovers were poor. The hosts backed away from Town, and striker Matty Stevens’ presence up front was barely noticed by central defenders Baudry and Zeki Fryers as half-an-hour passed.

Five minutes later, Town’s lead was doubled – no prizes for guessing who applied the finishing touch.

Lacklustre defending certainly helped Doyle on his way to goal number 21. Ill-placed defenders paved the way for the Irishman to latch onto spring-heeled Kaiyne Woolery’s flick-on header before Smith was beaten for a second time.

Rovers picked up their game towards the end of the half. Jack Aitchison was unlucky to have his shot blocked after Liam Shephard brilliantly controlled a long ball forward close to the right corner flag.

A robust Town wall blocked out Mills’ stoppage-time free-kick before the visitors could’ve grabbed a third.

On the counter, Doyle fed Woolery, who picked out a waiting Doughty on the edge of the box. Doughty then fed possession to Yates, whose shot was blocked to round off an encouraging opening half.

Underperforming Stevens was replaced by James Morton at half-time by Rovers chief Mark Cooper, while Town were unchanged.

The change worked well for the hosts, who threatened twice at the start of the half through Shephard and Ebou Adams – the former’s chance was brilliantly saved at the near post by Benda.

Pressure built and eventually told as home skipper Mills notched Rovers’ first to halve the deficit. The goal was the first Town had conceded in League Two football since November 16.

Momentum failed to swing, and Town had three excellent chances to re-establish their two-goal lead.

Anderson and Baudry were superbly denied by the sprawling Smith, while Doyle was prevented from completing a hat-trick when his chip over the home ‘keeper was later scrambled off the goalline by Liam Kitching.

Doyle later rather comically swiped at a bobbling ball without connecting as Swindon’s foothold in the game was seemingly re-established.

But a tired Town started to wobble, and five minutes of injury time inspired Rovers to go on and equalise as Mills latched onto a corner and send the home fans into raptures.