The Whites displayed character and fighting spirit in abundance to emerge from their trip to Croft with three valuable points in the bag.
With four players unavailable, a bare squad of nine travelled to Swindon for a clash between two sides locked together on the same number of points in North Wilts League Division 1.
After a run of fixtures against sides contesting the title race, the Colts were seeking their first league win in more than three months.
They got it thanks to two excellent first-half goals. First Matthew and then Toby both finished superbly from the left-hand side of the box after neat interplay involving the returning Liam B and George and the visitors were able to maintain their advantage during an at-times fraught second period.
Keeper Max always looked assured and distributed the ball sensibly to the flanks throughout and the defence kept another clean sheet, having shut out Melksham in a 1-0 friendly win a week earlier. Bradley coped expertly with a much taller striker, made one goal-saving tackle in the first half and stuck out a leg with Max beaten to deny Croft again after the break. Luke was solid on the right and used possession wisely, while Tom adapted admirably to an unfamiliar left-sided role and was willing to join the attack with some rangy runs from deep.
Liam F grafted away in the engine room and grew into the contest as the game wore on, while Matthew was always feisty and tenacious and threaded some brilliant passes to George and Toby out wide and Liam B up front.
Toby’s lively performance was rewarded with the Colts’ second goal and George was inches away from joining him on the scoresheet with a dipping strike that came back off the woodwork. Liam B produced a typically competitive, high-energy performance and was always a thorn in the side of the Croft defence as Colts carved out the better chances despite an even share of possession.
A hard-earned victory, in which every player played a big part, should serve as a major confidence boost for the squad ahead of their League Cup semi-final encounter with FC Chippenham at Beversbrook on April 2.