SWINDON Town’s versatile defender Tom Broadbent revealed he has severe doubts over whether Tyler Smith actually touched the ball on its way into the net for the winning goal against Oxford United on Saturday.

Broadbent’s impromptu strike partner, Smith was adamant he touched the ball before Simon Eastwood clattered into him in second-half stoppage time, however, the man responsible for smartly turning in Town’s equaliser late on in the derby feels he has been wrongly robbed of a first Swindon brace.

Still in a highly jovial mood when speaking ahead of Swindon’s trip to Crewe Alexandra on Tuesday night, Broadbent first joked that Smith helped his goal over the line by jumping into Oxford’s goalkeeper before stating the team was never going to be happy with just a point when the stakes were that high.

Broadbent said: “I still don’t think Tyler touched it, but to be fair, if he wasn’t there then the ‘keeper is just picking it up. So Tyler has been brave and gone in, even though they’ve both sort of turned their backs and bottled it a little bit.

“Tyler says he touched it, but I’m not convinced. The main thing was that it went in and we got the win.

“Some people might have been happy with a draw after being 1-0 down, but we wanted more. The main thing was to get the win for the fans.”

Upon returning to the changing room at the Kassam Stadium alongside a jubilant Swindon squad, Broadbent picked up his phone to see it jammed full of messages from well-wishers.

The 28-year-old was later informed many of those happy Town fans would be waiting to serenade him with song once he arrived back at the County Ground.

However, Broadbent revealed he could have missed the celebrations had he driven to Town’s hotel in Oxford instead of getting the coach over with half a dozen of his fellow players.

He said: “It’s a good job I didn’t drive to the hotel isn’t it? Otherwise I wouldn’t have been there to see the fans!

“A few of the boys actually met at the hotel, so there was only about six of us that actually came back to the ground.

“But it was a nice reception when we got back, I was excited to get back once we were told the fans were waiting for us.

“Looking at my phone after, I realised the significance of the win. When I first looked at my phone and you see people saying stuff like ‘King Broadbent’, it’s all a bit mad, but I’ll take it.”