THE Swindon Town players were told to give themselves a well-deserved pat on the back by manager John Sheridan after a gallant effort in their 2-2 draw against Lincoln City on Tuesday night.

Jordon Garrick volleyed home his first goal for the club in the second minute as Town took a surprise lead against the league leaders.

After Dion Conroy tripped Tom Hopper in the area midway through the first half, Jorge Grant stepped up to square the game – only for Brett Pitman to nudge Town ahead before the break following Imps goalkeeper, Alex Palmer’s dreadful error.

But after a fantastic long-range effort from Morgan Rogers made it 2-2, Sheridan’s men were forced to settle for a point in a game that few gave them any hope of taking anything from prior to kick-off.

Reacting to the thrilling draw in Lincolnshire, Sheridan said: “I thought it was a really good performance against a team that is going really well and looking very strong for promotion.

“I’m very pleased with the way we played – we had a good shape about us, we created lots of opportunities, it’s just a shame we couldn’t hold on to win the game.

“I told the lads to give themselves a pat on the back because I thought it was an excellent performance.

“We’re in a tough position in the league and we’re fighting for everything, so to come to Lincoln and compete and play like we did was pleasing.”

The point saw Town rise a position to 19th on a night where many teams down near the foot of League One picked up a positive result.

AFC Wimbledon, Burton Albion and Wigan Athletic all won, making the draw against Lincoln all the more valuable to Sheridan’s men.

The Town boss was adamant there will be many more twists and turns before the end of the year, but was pleased to see his team dig in once again for a valuable point.

He said: “We didn’t look like a team that is in a relegation scrap.

“We know that when we turn up we can perform and we can give most teams a good game. So we’ll take a point after Saturday too, and it will be a massive game against Northampton at the weekend.

“I’ve just seen the league after the game – there’s going to be twists and turns with late goals going in until the end, so we’ve just got to take care of ourselves.”