Exeter City maintained their Sky Bet League Two promotion push as they sealed a 3-1 win over Swindon Town at St James Park.

The away side went ahead in the first half through Kaiyne Woolery, but were pegged back shortly after when Jake Taylor levelled for the Grecians.

Pierce Sweeney then put City ahead just before half-time from the penalty spot, before Jayden Stockley made sure the points were safe when he fired in late on.

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The Grecians made two changes to the side that beat Port Vale 1-0 in midweek as Craig Woodman and Matt Jay were restored to the starting XI with Paul Tisdale’s side looking to continue their promotion push.

The first 10 minutes saw the away side start with a high-tempo as they looked to put the City defenders under pressure when in possession. The Grecians’ first chance came when Sweeney stayed up field following a free-kick, and as the ball broke to the Irishman, he hit an attempt over from outside the Town box.

Christy Pym was then forced into a smart save from Swindon’s Matty Taylor when his low free-kick aimed for the bottom corner saw the City goalkeeper get down well to push the ball away as the Grecians cleared.

City created another good opportunity just before the 20-minute mark when Jordan Storey found Woodman out wide, before the ball fell to Jay, whose cross found Jayden Stockley in the area, but his header was just wide.

It was the hosts that went in front, though, when a Swindon cross wasn’t cleared convincingly by the City defence just before the half hour mark, and the ball fell kindly for Woolery who made no mistake as he finished past Pym.

The Grecians thought they’d levelled just a couple of minutes later when Stockley rose well to thump a header past Stuart Moore from Jay’s cross, but for the referee to award a foul in the build-up as the goal was chalked off.

City didn’t have long to wait until they had the ball in the net again, though, and this one counted when Boateng’s cross was kept alive by Dean Moxey before Taylor fired in to level the score.

They found themselves ahead a couple of minutes before half-time when Moxey was brought down in the penalty box by Matty Taylor, leaving Sweeney to step up and convert the spot-kick as he claimed his eighth goal of the season as City took a lead into the break.

Swindon had the first real chance of the second-half, and it came after an hour, when Marc Richards was found at the back post before he volleyed at goal forcing Pym to make the save.

Substitute Amine Linganzi was next to test Pym when he found space on the edge of the box before shooting powerfully straight at the City keeper who punched clear.

Chances were few and far between for City, who looked to frustrate Phil Brown’s side as they defended resolutely, limiting their opponents to very little opportunities. In fact, one of their main outlets came in the form of Kane Wilson, who continued to charge down the right-hand side looking to get the home side up the pitch.

An excellent all-round display from City was then capped off when, in a rare second-half attack, Boateng was found out wide before he cut the ball back for Stockley to fire in as he scored Tisdale’s side’s third of the afternoon wrapping up all three points for the Grecians.

Exeter City: Pym, Sweeney, Woodman (Archibald-Henville, 78), Tillson, Stockley, Jay (Edwards, 80), Moxey, Wilson (James, 90), Taylor, Storey, Boateng

Subs not used: Jones, Simpson, McAlinden, Croll

Booked: Moxey

Swindon Town: Moore, Purkiss, Hussey, Robertson, Mullin (Gordon, 77), Dunne, Richards, Elsnik (Linganzi, 65), Woolery (Norris, 65), Taylor, Menayese

Subs not used: Henry, Gordon, Knoyle, Twine, Anderson

Booked: Taylor, Dunne

Attendance: 4,567 (Inc, 337, away)