SWINDON-BORN Harrison Minturn said it was “brilliant” to start his first league game for Swindon Town in front of his dad on Saturday.

The 19-year-old played as part of a back five as Jacob Wakeling’s second-half goal claimed a point in a 1-1 draw against League Two’s runaway leaders, Leyton Orient at Brisbane Road.

Minturn’s dad, Andy is an academy coach at Swindon and was a part of the 1,250 fans who made the trip to north-east London at the weekend.

Son Harrison expressed his pride at making the first league start of his career with a passionate fanbase right behind him.

Minturn said: “It’s massive to get my first league start. Being a home-grown lad, and the gaffer having faith in me to play in a massive game like this is amazing.

“It’s an amazing feeling to get a point out of it and to see all of the fans today with the atmosphere they generated. My dad was in there today too, it was brilliant.”

Minturn’s opportunity came about in part to the unprecedented number of injuries in Town’s back line.

But after being handed his chance from the off, the young defender felt he did himself justice.

Minturn said: “They are a really good team, Leyton Orient, and getting chucked into the team wasn’t ideal, but I’d like to think I did alright.

“I think it’s a very, very good point for us. I think we defended really, really well overall.

“It’s a bit annoying to concede the goal in the way we did, we shouldn’t have, but it’s lush to get a point out of it.”

A former academy product, Minturn signed his first professional contract with Swindon almost a year ago.

In between then and last Saturday, a couple of successful spells with National League South Chippenham Town helped the talented centre-back learn his trade.

After the 1-1 draw with Orient, Minturn admitted his time at the Thornbury Surfacing Stadium was invaluable and he was incredibly grateful to those who had helped him along the way.

He said: “The loans have definitely helped me. A lot of the time [against Orient], it was quite a physical, quick, fast-paced game.

“People don’t realise, in National League South, that is quite a tough league. It’s a lot of dealing with aerial balls, and that was mostly the case today. I’ve got a lot of experience with that.

“Going out to Chippenham at 18 and 19, playing week in, week out and playing against men, that helped me massively. I think that prepared me really, really well for my league debut.”