Blast From The Past: 1995/96 Season

In the first of our new 'Blast From the Past' series, where we take a look at previous Swindon Town seasons and pick out three crucial games to look at in-depth, we look at Town's 1995/96 season which saw Steve McMahon guide Swindon back to Division One. Total Sport Swindon's Rajan Hothi picks his three games to cover in more detail.

Just two seasons prior Swindon found themselves in the Premier League, taking on giants such as Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United, but come 1995, two successive relegations saw Town drop down to Division Two (now League One) for the first time since 1987. 

The club was in a rapid decline, and despite an impressive League Cup run in the 1994-95 season, Town fans had very little to cheer about until a promotion season which saw Swindon lose just four games in the league and endure an exciting run in the FA Cup. 

Bristol Rovers 1-4 Swindon Town - 16th September 1995

Both teams had started the season well ahead of the derby, with Rovers sitting just outside the play-off places on goal difference having picked up 11 points from their opening seven games, while Town were unbeaten and sitting pretty at the top - winning five and drawing two of their seven games.

Striker Wayne Allison was injured for the clash, but his absence proved to be irrelevant as McMahon's side ran riot on derby day. 

The visitors broke the deadlock after just five minutes, Player-manager McMahon did well to find Kevin Horlock on the edge of the box, and Horlock's low drive found the bottom corner to send the travelling Town fans into ecstasy behind the goal.  

Swindon pushed for a second as Paul Bodin's cross found Horlock at the back-post, but his header was well saved by Brian Parkin. 

However, just four minutes before half-time, Rovers were level. David Pritchard's cross caused havoc in the box, and Paul Miller was on hand to restore parity for the hosts with his close-range strike beating the hapless Frank Talia in goal.

Whilst Rovers may have gone into the half-time interval with their tails up, a 25-minute spell in the second-half saw Town stun their rivals. 

Swindon regained the lead in controversial circumstances. McMahon's corner was headed home by Shaun Taylor, but after initially ruling the goal out for a foul, the referee consulted his linesman and the goal stood. 

Just five minutes later, Town grabbed their third. A ruthless counter-attack saw Steve Finney produce a pin-point cross for Horlock who headed home his brace. 

And the result was put beyond doubt with five minutes left as Horlock grabbed his hat-trick. Wayne O'Sullivan's flick-on found Horlock who raced in on goal and rounded Parkin to net his hat-trick and give Swindon a memorable derby win. 

Swindon Town 1-0 Notts County - 6th April 1996

Following a damaging loss to rivals Oxford United - who were also promotion challengers - and a rare inconsistent spell, Swindon found themselves knocked off the top spot for the first time since December by Blackpool.

Promotion-chasing Notts County came to SN1 looking to try and derail Swindon's season and in turn push their promotion hopes. 

Notts County had the better of the opening exchanges and probably should've taken the lead but their top goalscorer Gary Martindale spurned his chance on the counter as he could only place the ball wide when one-on-one with Talia. 

Town almost broke the deadlock on the stroke of half-time when Shaun Taylor's close-range header was expertly saved by Darren Ward to ensure the two sides went in level at half-time.

The second-half saw Swindon dominate, but the visitors were standing firm and proved to be a danger on the counter. It was starting to look like County would frustrate McMahon's men and come away with a point with Ward having an answer to every Swindon effort. 

The Magpies almost stole it, but Ian Culverhouse and Frank Talia combined to prevent the visitors from breaking Town hearts. With Blackpool losing 1-0 to Oxford, it was looking like Swindon would fail to capitalise until some late magic from Kevin Horlock.

In the 89th-minute a corner was headed on into the path of Horlock who produced a wonderful overhead kick to send the 10,000 Swindon fans into raptures and place the Robins back to the top of Division Two at the expense of Blackpool.

Blackpool 1-1 Swindon Town - April 20th 1996

With five games left, Swindon sat five points ahead of second-placed Blackpool and 12 ahead of third-placed Oxford - with a game in hand on the U's as well as two in hand over Blackpool. 

Thousands of Swindon fans travelled to Blackpool in the hope of seeing Town secure a deserved promotion from Division Three and they wouldn't be let down.

Kevin Horlock, as he did for most of the season, came up with the goods after 15 minutes. Wayne Allison's lay-off from Mark Robinson's cross found Horlock who smashed home his 15th goal of the season, and his most important one, to send the large travelling Swindon contingent into delirium. 

Swindon went into the half-time interval ahead, however, they were pegged back just after the hour-mark. Andy Barlow's thunderous strike levelled proceedings and set-up a nervy last 30 minutes for the visitors.  

Both teams had chances to take the lead, but some resolute defending from Town at the end saw them come away with a crucial point that secured promotion for Steve McMahon's side as they celebrated with the delighted Swindon fans at Bloomfield Road. 

Three days later, Swindon wrapped up the title as they ran out 3-1 winners at Chesterfield courtesy of goals from Steve Cowe, Peter Thorne and Wayne Allison. 

After a 0-0 draw to Stockport County on the final day in front of a sold-out County Ground, Swindon had topped the table winning promotion alongside rivals Oxford - finishing nine points ahead. 

In what was a season of success for Town, they also endured joy in the FA Cup as they reached the last-16, and held Premier League Southampton to a replay before losing 2-0 at the Dell. 

Wayne Allison topped the scoring charts for Town, netting 20 goals, while Steve Finney and Kevin Horlock ended the campaign with 16 goals each. 

While Kevin Horlock and defender Mark Robinson ended the season playing 58 of Swindon's 59 games.