SWINDON Town suffered their first defeat in 10 league games following a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Port Vale on Sunday.

Two superb strikes – one in each half – from Scott Burgess and Jake Taylor saw Vale come out on top in a fiercely competitive, yet ultimately damning day for the Wiltshire side.

Meanwhile, injuries to Mathieu Baudry, Keshi Anderson and Ellis Iandolo would highlight the sort of luck Town endured on a fruitless trip to Staffordshire.

Manager Richie Wellens named an unchanged XI from the side that started the 4-0 win at home to Cambridge on Boxing Day with Gabriel Zakuani and Ellis Iandolo remaining in defence at Vale Park.

There was only one change to the matchday 18 as Rob Hunt replaced Scott Twine on the bench after recovering from illness.

Hunt was called on earlier than Wellens would have liked though after Iandolo was forced off after a clash with Vale captain Leon Legge early on.

Legge was booked and Iandolo left the field on a stretcher after just five minutes.

Things then went from bad to worse for Town as the home side took the lead through Scott Burgess in the 13th minute.

A chipped ball into the box was held up well by Tom Pope.

The big striker shook off the attentions of Mathieu Baudry before laying the ball off for Burgess to hit first time with his right boot into the far corner of the net.

From worse to almost hellish, it went next.

Only a Benda stop one-on-one against Pope denied Vale a second when Yates' back pass was intercepted by the frontman before Baudry had to be substituted with what looked like a pulled hamstring.

Despite the strife that Town faced, Wellens’ men responded well for the remainder of the first half.

Kaiyne Woolery saw a number of chances go to waste while Doyle appeared to be quite rattled by a number of decisions going against him.

As the board showed six minutes of added time to the first half, Town were fully in the ascendancy and would have been perplexed at not going in level at the break.

Woolery snatched at a good chance before Yates blasted over as Town continued to build pressure late on, but the visitors’ best chance fell to Anderson.

Through on goal out wide, the ball never seemed to settle for the midfielder and a bobble just before his strike only helped Brown in his efforts to deny Anderson.

Shortly into the second half, Town were made to pay for their wastefulness as Vale doubled their lead courtesy of another superb strike.

Midfielder Jake Taylor received the ball on the edge of the box with his left, switched it onto his right and curled a wonderful effort into the top left-hand corner beyond Benda’s outstretched right hand.

Then, like in the aftermath of the first goal, Town went on the attack once again, unperturbed by what had just occurred.

Anderson and Doyle combined inside the hosts’ half before the former flicked the ball over a Vale defender and set his sights.

However, once again a bobble caused Anderson to skew an effort well off target and into the travelling support.

Lloyd Isgrove was sent on with half an hour to go in place of Michael Doughty, and he slotted in well as the League Two leaders continued their relative dominance.

The winger’s corner almost provided the assist for Doyle’s 23rd goal of the season, however, Brown scrambled across really well to deny the Irishman at his near post.

Vale were often a threat on the counter-attack as they soaked up a lot of Swindon ball possession – David Amoo and substitute Mark Cullen provided hope of a third for the home side, however their efforts were cut out by Zakuani and Hunt respectively late on.

Town were unable to find a way through late on as Eoin Doyle’s consecutive goal tally ended at 11 games – one short of club legend Harry Morris’ effort in the 1926-27 season.