PAUL Benson scored his 10th goal of the season for Swindon last night to secure a 1-0 win at Morecambe that moves them another step closer to a return to League One.

After a scrappy first 45 minutes, Benson fired home a minute into the second half and Town successfully closed out the game to ensure they made the lengthy trip back down south with three more vital points.

The Robins are now 11 points clear of fourth place and with just six games remaining it is now merely a matter of when promotion will be guaranteed, rather than if.

Morecambe’s home form has been poor this season and times when they have taken the lead at the Globe Arena have been few and far between.

However, they had a great chance to open the scoring inside the first couple of minutes when Lewis Alessandra raced through on goal, but fortunately for Town Jay McEveley got back superbly to poke the ball away from his feet.

That chance proved to be something of a false down though as neither side created anything of note for the next 30 minutes.

Luke Rooney volleyed well wide for Town while Craig Curran did the same at the other end of the pitch.

The quality of the football on the pitch had been poor and Di Canio repeatedly made his frustrations known, before opting to make his first change less than 10 minutes before the break, replacing Rooney with Lee Holmes.

The substitute almost made an immediate impact as his low ball into the area found Simon Ferry, but the midfielder shot well over the bar.

Just before the break, Aden Flint denied Curran getting a shot on target, deflecting the striker’s header behind before the towering defender then headed away the resulting corner.

The two sides emerged unchanged for the second but Morecambe fans were still making their way to their seats when Town took the lead.

Joe Devera played the ball into the box and Holmes sent it back across the face of goal where the ever-dangerous Benson was on hand to stab home from close range.

The goal clearly caused the confidence to surge through the Town players and they started to press Morecambe defence.

Di Canio made his second substitution of the game with Alan Connell replaced by Ronan Murray and the on-loan Ipswich striker shot wide from distance soon after coming on, before Holmes saw a low effort held by Barry Roche.

But the visitors still had to be alert at the back and Wes Foderingham made an important intervention in the 72nd minute when Danny Carlton broke free of the defence to bring a high ball over the top under control, but the Town keeper was quick off his line to prevent the striker from getting a shot off.

Five minutes of added time was shown once the 90 minutes were up and it was a tense finish as Nick Fenton saw a deflected header bounce back off the woodwork.

Town could have wrapped it up with a second soon after as Ferry embarked on a lung-busting run into the area before squaring a pass to Benson, but the striker uncharacteristically scuffed his shot wide.

But Benson's earlier strike was all that was needed as the referee blew his whistle to signal full time and secure a second successive win on the road for Town.

"We are close to the target now and the players have to lift their game again,” said Di Canio. “We are so close but they must not lose concentration. They must not relax and I will not accept any lack in effort now.

“We won the game but we could have drawn because Morecambe countered us well.”