DAVID Flitcroft praised the dogged determination of his Swindon Town players after they began 2018 with a battling 2-1 win at Barnet in League Two - as he revealed goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux and midfielder James Brophy had been dropped for a breach of club discipline.

Matt Preston’s close-range finish in first-stoppage time won the points for Town at the Hive Stadium after Ellis Iandolo’s earlier free-kick had been cancelled out by a John Akinde header for Barnet.

Swindon’s win was the second in the space of three days built on guts and determination following their 1-0 success at home to Notts County on Saturday and took their points tally to nine of a possible 12 over the Christmas and New Year period.

“It was a collective effort. I had to use all three subs and I knew I would have to before the game,” said Flitcroft.

“We had some tired minds – we put a lot of emotional energy into the Notts County win – as well as the physical demand.

“Having two games, your body will go to those lengths, your body won’t pack in but sometimes your head tells it to.

“Sometimes your head tells your body to stop working but it didn’t and the lads put an unbelievable shift in, which you have got to do.

“A new manager has come in and Barnet are fighting for their lives, they threw everything at us late on and we contested every ball to a man.

“To turn around with nine points over this period is a credit to the staff who work incredibly hard for the club, and the away fans support was just brilliant. They were with us every step of the way, every ball that went into the box they almost headed it away for us.

“It was a real dogged performance. You have got to win games in different ways but certainly today we had to stand together as one and we did.”

Vigouroux and Brophy were both omitted from the matchday squad that had beaten County over the weekend, with Flitcroft revealing the pair had breached club disciplinary rules by going out after that match.

The pair were previously fined by the club last March after a similar incident ahead of an important home game against Sheffield United.

“Vigouroux and Brophy disobeyed club orders so from a disciplinary point of view, they have not travelled. They were out in Swindon when they shouldn’t have been,” said Flitcroft, who went on to brand the behaviour as “appalling.’’.

“They got away with it last year but under my watch they won’t get away with it. We have got to seriously get that right and we will definitely be on with that.”