“I HONESTLY believe if we get in the play-offs then we’ll go on and win them, but we’ve got to get there.”

Swindon Town head coach Ben Garner was in confident mood following the club’s 3-0 victory over Hartlepool United on Saturday.

The Town boss said his team took “the first step” towards achieving their goal of achieving promotion, but they must follow it up against Forest Green Rovers on Tuesday night.

Harry McKirdy’s double was added to by Mathieu Baudry at Victoria Park as Garner’s men cruised to victory and cut the gap to the top seven down to two points.

Should Swindon beat the league leaders at the County Ground in midweek, the Wiltshire side could be inside the play-off places and have their fate back in their own hands with two games to go.

Asked if the victory gave his squad added belief they could crash the promotion party, Garner said: “I’ve never doubted that we can make it, and I’ve said that to the players.

“This was the first step on the road, and we have to follow it up against Forest Green on Tuesday. I think that win gives us momentum now for these last three games.

“We’re the hunters, we’re going to go after the teams above us, and we want to strike fear into them as best we can. We want to push into the play-offs and make it a really memorable season.”

Similar to the majority of the Town’s away games this season, Garner’s men dominated the important statistics.

But after failing to capitalise in ties against Rochdale and Crawley Town recently when doing the same, Swindon ensured there would be no concerns of a slip-up on Teesside.

Garner said: “I think from midway through the first half, we were really in control. Especially in the second half, it was a really professional performance, very disciplined.

“The subs all came on and did great, they got up to the pace of the game quickly and maintained our shape, so I’m really pleased with it.

“If you go off how we’ve played over the past six or seven games, we’ve deserved to win a lot more than what we have.

“Today, we made sure we got the points, and we need to make sure we do that moving forwards.”