SWINDON Town got their Checkatrade Trophy off to a winning start with goals from Raphael Rossi Branco and Nathan Delfouneso enough to see of Chelsea Development 2-1 at the County Ground.  Both goals came from set-pieces delivered by home debutant Sean Murray, with Delfouneso also getting his first goal for the club.

Luke Williams has made no fewer than six changes to the team that were beaten at Oxford United in Saturday's local derby.

Will Henry replaced Lawrence Vigouroux in goal, with the latter suspended for Saturday's league game at home to Bury.

Lloyd Jones, who is also suspended this weekend, was the only member of the back three to keep his place and started alongside Jamie Sendles-White and Branco.

Wing-backs Darnell Furlong and Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill were retained, with Murray, Tom Smith and John Goddard in the middle of the par and Luke Norris starting again up front alongside Jermaine Hylton.

The first 15 minutes came and went with nothing much to show for either side.

Town had a corner taken by Murray, but his ball failed to beat the first man.

Hylton managed to dance through a few challenges from the Chelsea youngsters, before over-hitting his pass to partner Norris.

It was in the 18th minute that Swindon would get their noses in front when captain Branco was able to nod in Murray’s corner.

Chelsea almost had an immediate response in the 20th minute when Mason Mount hit a thunderous effort which rattled the underside of Henry’s bar before it was cleared.

Henry had his hands warmed again when Charlie Wakefield broke down the right only to hit his shot at the Swindon stopper.

Just before the half hour mark Henry could breathe a sigh of relief after a poor left-footed clearance found Tom Smith who was dispossessed, only for Isaac Christie-Davies to drag his shot wide of the far post.

Ten minutes of the half remained when Swindon have a right to be perplexed as to why they weren’t two goals to the good.

Hylton ran the right channel well before looking like he had gone into a dead end, only to turn and square a ball to Norris who couldn’t finish from a matter of yards.

After a storming run from his own box from Dujon Sterling, the ball eventually found a way to Christie-Davies, but his shot was comfortably taken by Henry, who after a few hairy moments, began to look more assured between the sticks.

The development side would show glimpses of their obvious talent, when a corner was nicely worked inside to Wakefield, but his right-footed effort was just over the crossbar.

Chelsea’s youngsters showed flashes, but lacked the killer instinct to finish off the chances they did have in the first half, courtesy of lapses in concentration from Williams’ team.

Of their 11, trio Christie-Davies, Wakefield and Trevoh Chalobah, the brother of England Under 21 star Nathaniel, were the most impressive, the latter outmuscling Town frontman Hylton on a number of occasions.

Williams was the first manager to dip his hand into the substitutions when he opted to swap Norris for Delfouneso for the start of the second.

Both teams came out for the second half with much needed renewed vigour, with Chelsea again let down by their final ball.

It was a similar story for Swindon, as Hylton turned well to get into the box but was unable to pick out a red shirt, despite the home side continuing to be energetic.

Blues boss and former Town player Adi Viveash made a change when he brought on Joseph Colley for Ike Ugbo, in the 57th minute.

For Town, former Woking man John Goddard making way for Ellis Iandolo after a largely passive performance.

Iandolo nearly made an instant impact when he latched onto a loose ball, drawing a right-handed save from Chelsea keeper Brad Collins.

The resulting corner was cleared away, but it wouldn’t be long until the hosts had another chance to get a ball into the box.

This time it was Murray’s long ball from the left was met by the faintest of touches by substitute Delfouneso as it crept in at the far post.

All Swindon needed to do was see out the final third of the game, Branco leading by example when he met Christie-Davies’ curling effort with his head.

Defender Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill had a half chance in the Chelsea box when Delfounseo poked a ball to him, but it didn’t settle for him and was cleared away.

Chelsea introduced Martell Taylor-Crosslade in a bid to reignite the game but in the 70th minute Swindon had another chance from a set piece, Murray again the provider but this time unable to find a teammate.

With only 15 minutes left to play Swindon had done well to kill off the game as a contest, their second goal causing Chelsea’s performance levels to drop and never really threatened since.

Despite this, they continued to probe the Swindon backline which continued to stand firm despite the sporadic attempts at goal.

Mount again tried his luck from distance, keeper Henry opted to push his shot wide as it fell awkwardly for the Town.

Then in the 80th minute, substitute Ali struck a huge effort from 25 yards which flew into the top right corner to give the development side a glimmer of hope.

Delfouneso could have come close to getting a second when he chased down a loose ball which resulted in a foot race between him and goalkeeper Collins, who slid in to prevent the chance developing any further.

In the 88th minute Delfouneso found Furlong on an overlapping run before the QPR man was barged over, only for the resulting free-kick to be well overhit without causing any problems.

With the final whistle looming, Murray’s darting run saw him brought down inside the box, but the referee waved away claims for a penalty, before Furlong stung the gloves of Collins with a fierce follow up from a tight angle.  

Substitute Jonathan Obika really should have made it 3-1 but he couldn’t find a way past the keeper who managed to get a foot to his left-footed attempt. 

SWINDON TOWN: Henry; Sendles-White, Rossi-Branco (capt), Jones; Furlong, Smith, Goddard (Iandolo 58), Murray, Ormonde-Ottewill; Hylton (Obika 73), Norris (Delfouneso 45). Substitutes: Vigouroux, Brophy, Barry, Evans.

CHELSEA U23: Collins; Sterling, T Chalobah, Tomori, J Dasilva; Quintero (Ali 73), Scott (Taylor-Crossdale 65); Wakefield, Mount, Christie-Davies; Ugbo (Colley 57). Substitutes: Muheim, Sammut, St Clair, Thompson.

Referee: Graham Horwood.

Attendance: 1,961