Annie Colston carried her goalscoring form from last season into this one as Swindon Town Women won 1-0 against Bournemouth Sports at the Nigel Eady County Ground.

Swindon played their first home game of the FA Women’s National League Division One South West season with a game at the main stadium in front of a bigger home crowd and they made a strong early impression.

Having missed an early chance, last season’s top goalscorer Colston took almost no time getting off the mark this time around as she slalomed beyond defenders in the area before tucking a shot beyond the goalkeeper after 13 minutes.

The striker almost turned provider ten minutes later as she slipped Libby Davies in behind, she held off the covering defender but was denied well by the goalkeeper.

After the break, Jess Graham had a dig from outside the area that had the goalkeeper beaten but crashed off the post to keep the game in the balance.

Bournemouth did have an opportunity to snatch an equaliser after an hour as they worked a chance through on Hannah Cox, but Billie Haynes was able to get back and make a wonderful challenge as Swindon held on to claim all three points as they made it two wins from two to start the season.

Speaking to club media after the game, Richard Wood said it was good to see the team make progress from last season: “I think that one of the things we did last season was we were wanting to win games four- or five-nil all of the time and there were a few times where that arrogance, almost, caught us out.

“We are trying to drum into the players that provided we have control of the game, we don’t need to force it and we can dominate a game with the ball and that is what we are looking to do this season.

“It is pleasing that that is coming out and hopefully, when you get the opportunity, you want to kill teams off.

“They [the midfield three] were really dominant, ticking over and moving the ball quickly, they won the ball back quickly when we were out of possession, it was very difficult for them to break us down or have many opportunities against us.

“Those three were particularly strong today and we have a bit of a joke about them being a SWAT team, working together, communicating, and they are coming along nicely.”