Saturday 2nd December 1967 Division Three
Oldham Athletic 0-2 Swindon Town
At the eleventh time of asking Swindon finally won a league game on their travels with a comfortable 2-0 success at Boundary Park. First half goals from Don Rogers and Pat Terry were enough to see off the challenge of Oldham.
Off the field all the headlines had been about Don Rogers. He’d just had a transfer request rejected by the Town directors and many felt that this may have had a detrimental effect on his performance. Not so, Don’s goal that opened the scoring was one of the best and he could’ve increased the lead long before Pat Terry drove home the second in the 40th minute to leave Town in the driving seat.
With Mel Nurse leading the back line, ably supported by Stan Harland, the spearhead of the Oldham attack was well and truly blotted out. Behind them Peter Downsborough, when required, pulled off some good saves in front of the Town citadel.
Rogers was kept quiet in the second half by a more forceful Oldham team and some of the methods used were questionable, to say the least. It was from one such heavy tackle that saw Don Heath replaced by Willie Penman but this only served to rejuvenate Swindon and give the attack an even better balanced look.
The Swindon Advertiser pondered that perhaps the greatest contributing factor towards the victory was the whole-hearted enthusiasm of the team. Unfortunately this win was one of only three successes on the road for Swindon during the 67/68 campaign. It wasn’t until March when they next tasted glory, beating Shrewsbury by 2 goals to 1.
Town:
Peter Downsborough, Rod Thomas, John Trollope, Joe Butler, Mel Nurse, Stan Harland, Don Heath (Willie Penman), Owen Dawson, Pat Terry, Roger Smart, Don Rogers
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