SWINDON Town manager Mark Cooper has heaped praise on his young side after they stuck to their principles to clinch a vital goal advantage for the second leg of their play-off semi-final.

However, the County Ground boss is not resting on his laurels and knows that in the next three days some hard work needs to be put in as they aim to finish the job at the County Ground on Monday night.

A young Town side, which had Jermaine Hylton making only his second start, walked out into a real cauldron as the South Yorkshire faithful got right behind their side.

After the first 15 minutes it looked like it could be long night for the visitors as Nigel Clough’s side dominated proceedings and took a deserved lead through Kieron Freeman.

When Ben Gladwin missed a 26th-minute penalty it seemed as if the occasion had got to a talented but ultimately naive squad.

However, Swindon weathered the storm and the wisest head of them all, Sam Ricketts, popped up six minutes after the break to head Town back level before Nathan Byrne completed the comeback to give Town the advantage.

“I thought for 20 minutes we struggled to get to grips with Sheffield United’s intensity,” admitted Cooper after the game. “But when you try and play like we do it can be difficult if teams play with that intensity.

"But after that I thought we were outstanding and played some brilliant football in a real pressure cooker.

“We never settled for a draw, we felt the game had really opened up and there was space for Nathan Byrne, John Swift, people like that, to go on and drive home an advantage and we wanted to get what we got.

“I am really proud of the players but it is only half a job done.

“I am not going to bleat and say yes we have done this and we’ve done that. We know we have got a remarkably tough game to come at home against a really good team against some really good players and we know we have to be on our guard.”