CONOR Thomas’ second-half double helped Swindon Town claim a comfortable win away to fellow Wiltshire side Melksham Town in their second pre-season outing this evening.

Forward Luke Norris gave Swindon a deserved lead at the break before Thomas doubled the visitors’ advantage 18 minutes into the second period.

A quick-fire double in the closing stages from Scott Twine and Thomas’ second, plus a Paul Mullin strike, wrapped up the straight-forward win for the League Two side.

Having comfortably dispatched Southern League opposition in the form of Swindon Supermarine on Saturday, David Flitcroft’s men travelled to Oakfields Stadium to face Western League side Melksham.

There was no place in the squad for trialist Cece Franck Pepe, as Flitcroft named a first-half XI that included Jack Bainbridge and Jordan Slew in a 4-3-3 formation on a sodden evening.

Swindon were restricted to shots from distance early on, with Jesse Starkey testing the handling of Melksham stopper Kent Kauppinen, before Slew saw an effort from outside the box go wide of the post.

The League Two side took a deserved lead as they finally found a way through a resolute Melksham defence, with Slew’s shot well saved by Kauppinen and Norris on hand to slot home the rebound with the home stopper struggling to return to his feet.

Like the game against Supermarine, Flitcroft made wholesale changes at the break, with Bainbridge the only one to survive from the team of the first half, having switched to centre back.

The first chance of the second half fell to Swindon, who had switched to a 4-4-2 formation, as James Brophy’s free-kick to the back post was headed wide by Ollie Lancashire.

Mullin, fresh from his hat-trick at the weekend was handed a chance to add to his Town tally two minutes later when Twine was felled in the box.

The summer signing stepped up to take the spot-kick but his shot low to the left was saved well by Kauppinen.

Swindon did eventually double their advantage in the 63rd minute after Zavon Hines had seen a shot pushed wide for a corner.

The set-piece was taken to the edge of the box where Thomas was on hand to see his shot deflected home.

Bainbridge went close to extending the lead in the 75th minute when, slightly off-balance, he sent in a shot from the edge of the box but was denied by the width of the post.

Swindon had the ball in the back of the net moments later as a short corner saw Brophy’s cross deflected in, but it was swiftly ruled out for offside.

The visitors’ third goal did eventually come in the 83rd minute, when Twine unleashed a superb shot from more than 30 yards out, with the fourth coming less than a minute later as Brophy saw a shot come off the post and Thomas was on hand to tap home inside the box.

Mullin turned his defender well in the 88th minute to complete the scoring as he found the far corner with precision.

MELKSHAM TOWN: Kent Kauppinen, Alex Grimshaw, Lee Davidson, Jake Hiscocks, Steve Casey, Dave Thompson, Joe Stradling, Mike Perrott, Gary Higdon, Dan Demkiv, Ben Thompson.

SWINDON TOWN FIRST HALF: Lawrence Vigouroux, Chris Hussey, Chris Robertson, Dion Conroy, Jack Bainbridge, James Dunne, Jesse Starkey (Jordan Young 32), Donal McDermott, John Goddard, Jordan Slew, Luke Norris.

SECOND HALF: Will Henry, Ben Purkiss, Ollie Lancashire, Jack Bainbridge, Tom Smith, Conor Thomas, Amine Linganzi, Scott Twine, Paul Mullin, Zavon Hines, James Brophy.