SWINDON Town head coach Ben Garner said his team’s 3-1 win against Bristol Rovers on Saturday featured the best overall performance of the season.

After going a goal down in the 17th minute via a well-worked Rovers move that was finished off powerfully by Harry Anderson, Town responded with aplomb and were full value for the three points they eventually accrued.

Jack Payne struck the equaliser shortly before the hour mark, and the game shifted dramatically in Swindon’s favour once Alfie Kilgour was sent off for a second yellow card when blocking Harry McKirdy’s goal-bound effort in the 85th minute. Ben Gladwin tucked home the penalty before McKirdy added some gloss to the scoreline two minutes later.

Asked where the performance ranked so far this season, the former Rovers boss felt it was right up there.

Garner said: “I think that was possibly the best performance of the season – it was probably the most complete.

“I thought in the first 10 or 15 minutes, we were a little bit slow and we started the game a bit sluggishly.

“We gave them a bit of momentum early on, and sometimes we go one down and then we really step on. We need to do that from the start.

“I think the majority of our goals have come in the second half of games, but that’s because of how we play. Because of the tempo we play at and the way we use the ball.

“But as an overall performance, that would probably be the best of the season.”

The only drawback from a dominant display, in Garner’s eyes, was the slow start his team made at the Memorial Stadium.

Garner reasoned that a young team like Swindon can be prone to suffering a little when faced with new experiences but that days like Saturday will stand them in good stead going forward.

He said: “We started well against Colchester last week and against Northampton too, but against Bristol Rovers we just gave them a bit of early momentum as we found our way into the game.

“But we’re a young team, it’s a boisterous crowd, there’s a lot of experience in their team, and that can be daunting sometimes.

“The likes of Kaine Kesler-Hayden at 18, Tyreece Simpson at 19 playing in front of that crowd.

“Sometimes that’s a learning experience that you have to go through to be able to cope with it better next time. But I think they’ll be much better for that experience today.”