LAST Friday millions of people all over the world, myself included, were gripped with excitement - not just the thought of Port Vale v Swindon Town being so close, but also the release of season two of Stranger Things.

Oddly enough, fans of the Netflix science fiction-horror series and Town have something in common.

In Stranger Things, fans watch their heroes move between two different dimensions. Warth, where there is a sense of normality, and a place called the Upside Down, where the air is toxic, bleak and no one wants to be there.

I’ll let you work out which one is Town playing away from home and which one is the County Ground.

This was more evident last weekend as David Flitcroft’s side put an end to Port Vale’s recent resurgence thanks to goals from Matt Taylor, Paul Mullin and Kellan Gordon, the last two scoring from the bench.

In recent weeks a big discussion point among fans has been how the manager doesn’t use his substitutes well enough in games for them to make any impact.

So it was great to see the boss finally use his bench to make a meaningful difference in a game.

Both Mullin and Gordon scored immediately after their introductions, but it was odd not to see them both in the starting XI after the manager kept faith with both Donal McDermott and John Goddard despite mediocre performances the previous week.

It was also good to see the return of attacking midfielder Timi Elsnik this week. Having a dynamic, forward-thinking midfielder back in the starting XI soon should hopefully give our home performances the spark of creativity currently lacking.

This weekend sees Town enter the FA Cup as they make the trip to face Dartford, who currently sit top of the National League South.

Swindon’s record in the famous old trophy has been abysmal in recent years.

We have to go back six years to the last time Town made it past the first round, when Paolo Di Canio’s Town easily beat now-Premier League side Huddersfield Town 4-1 at the County Ground.

Let’s hope Town can continue their away masterclass and progress into the hat for the second round.

In memory of Ron Webber (1930-2017)