Swindon boss Ian Holloway jokes he was due an assist after win over Gillingham

Manager Ian Holloway joked he was due an assist after telling Ollie Palmer to get wide before the veteran striker set up Aaron Drinan’s last-gasp clincher to secure Swindon a 2-0 victory over Gillingham.

Ryan Tafazolli’s second-half header put Town ahead and lively Gillingham hit the woodwork before Irishman Drinan got his 13th league goal of the season to keep Swindon in second place.

Holloway said: “I told Ollie Palmer to come out on the right. He’s crossed for Drinan to score the second goal. So I’m claiming that. There you go.

“If he carries on like that, I might play him out wide right.”

But his side had to work hard for the win and Holloway added: “It’s another battling, fighting, scrapping performance that’s needed, particularly this time of year and particularly against a Gareth (Ainsworth) side, because he’s an unbelievably competitive person.

“His teams are always like that and they’ve got all sorts of skill as well.

“So it took the post to help us, that looked like it was going in – it might have been a totally different game.”

The visitors had the better of the early exchanges, with Ethan Coleman flashing a header over from Aaron Rowe’s cross before the latter fired wide from a corner.

The forward then blitzed through a mass of defenders and struck a fierce shot that goalkeeper Connor Ripley blocked with his chest.

Tafazolli broke the deadlock in the 59th minute when he glanced in Finley Munroe’s free-kick and Will Wright then went close with a low free-kick.

The Gills nearly equalised when a throw-in got all the way to the Town goal line but Coleman’s header was tipped over by Ripley.

From the corner, Robins old boy Jonny Williams saw his header superbly saved by the keeper.

Munroe then robbed Elliott Nevitt as he bore down on the busy Ripley before visiting sub Jonny Smith rattled a post.

But Town ended the contest when Palmer’s deep cross was finished by Drinan in added time to keep Swindon firmly in the promotion hunt.

Gillingham manager Gareth Ainsworth said he was looking forward to getting in new faces in the window, despite praising his side’s effort.

He said: “It was full-blooded. They are a good bunch of lads who have given everything and we’re so together.

“Just very frustrating that we conceded two, it should be nil-nil.

“It doesn’t feel like a 2-0 defeat, but they put their chances away and we didn’t.

“We’re building and we’re getting these performances, but we need to win. We haven’t won for so long now.

“How have they got a free header in our six-yard box? We never get that. And then also, how have they scored an easy goal on the counter in the second half? It just beggars belief at times.”