SWINDON Town warmed up for tomorrow's FA Cup second round tie at the Racecourse, by taking care of League 1 business against Huddersfield Town on Tuesday night.
Charlie Austin's second goal in as many games sealed a massive three points for the Robins, as they won 2-1 at the County Ground.
The 20-year-old, making his full home debut, raced on to Lecsinel Jean-Francois' pass on 58 minutes and made no mistake with a clinical finish.
Earlier, former Port Vale man Billy Paynter had put Swindon in front, only for Lee Novak to level things up for the visitors minutes later.
Alex Revell could have made the scoreline even more emphatic when he flashed a header wide, but in difficult conditions and against a promotion-chasing side who had won their last five games, this was an impressive victory.
The Robins are now just one place outside of the play-off places, they are a point behind MK Dons but have a game in hand.
At the start of July, Austin was working for his dad's building company, laying bricks on a site in Basingstoke and dreaming of a shot at the professional game.
Fast forward nearly five months and the 20-year-old is already a fans' favourite at the County Ground following his successful trial and subsequent deal until the end of the season.
A prolific striker for Wessex League outfit Poole Town, Austin kept that form intact for Swindon's reserves before impressive substitute performances for the first team both home and away against Norwich.
And as much as manager Danny Wilson tried to keep to keep the front man under wraps, he couldn't ignore that talent any longer and unleashed him for a full debut against Carlisle last Saturday.
The reward - the only goal of the game after three minutes, giving Town an important League One victory at the Cumbrians' expense.
Austin's fairytale start to life as a full-time footballer is a far cry from those early mornings as a labourer, where he helped build the Angel Ridge development in which he now resides.
And the local lad admits he still can't quite take in the rapid rise.
"The last time I worked on a building site was on July 8, when I was in Basingstoke and it was a big development," he explained.
"My dad is a building contractor and I've worked with him since I left school in places like Swindon, Basingstoke and Reading.
"Every day, five days a week, working on a building site, in weather like we've had this week.
"It isn't great getting up at 5.30am every morning to do that.
"It's unbelievable how my whole life has changed in five months. I still have to pinch myself and I think I always will.
"I will always remember that I used to be working on a building site before getting the chance to do this. That will never leave me.
"I was playing six divisions below this and I was just going and playing on a Saturday and a Tuesday in front of about 100 people.
"And then I go and make my professional debut at Norwich in front of 25,000 people. I couldn't believe it and was just taking it all in."
Austin almost put pen-to-paper with League Two Bournemouth over the summer, until the Cherries' transfer embargo put paid to any switch.
The youngster thought that was his chance gone, but Town swooped to snap up the hitman and are now reaping the benefits.
"I never knew about Swindon watching me - all I knew was Bournemouth were interested and wanted to sign me," revealed Austin.
"When it fell through all I could think was that it was another setback and was I going to get into the pro game?
"Maybe I was just going to be one of those who never got the chance. But Swindon came through and I've had an unbelievable start.
"The supporters have been great with me and it probably helps that I'm a local lad, but don't get me wrong, I've still got to prove to them and myself that I can become a goalscorer for Swindon Town Football Club."
And following the opening few months of his fledgling career, you won't find anyone betting against Austin achieving just that.
Simon Ferry - enjoying life with Swindon
Meanwhile, Scottish midfielder Simon Ferry has revealed he wants to turn his newly-extended County Ground loan switch into a full-time deal and become a permanent addition to Town's playing staff.
With his original spell set to expire at the start of January, parent club Celtic have agreed to let the midfielder remain on loan at Swindon until the end of the season.
But Ferry, who only agreed a new contract at Parkhead before his temporary move south, has set his sights on calling Wiltshire home for a lot longer.
"I'm enjoying it so much here that I would sign here full-time if the opportunity came up," the 21-year-old admitted.
"It's up to Celtic obviously but that's how much I'm loving things here.
"With Scotty (Cuthbert) being here it's made it so much easier and also the way the rest of the boys have been. It's a great club to be at, especially with the manager and the staff he's got behind him.
"They like us to pass the ball, training's good, I like where I'm staying and everything has been perfect since I came down here.
"I'm staying now until the end of the season and I'm delighted about that. The two managers have agreed it so it's just down to some paperwork being sorted out, but it's going to happen.
"The last thing I want is to be sitting in the reserves and the main attraction is obviously the chance to play week-in, week-out."
Ferry ran the show for Town in the middle of the park as they defeated promotion-chasing Huddersfield 2-1 on Tuesday night.
And the Scot insists that result proves to everyone that Swindon have enough quality to reach the League One play-offs.
Ferry said: "It was a massive three points against Huddersfield because we really wanted to show we are good enough to be in amongst the big teams, and we've done that.
"We think we are going to be up there and we think we can go out there and beat these teams. It's just up to us to show it and we've done that.
"I think we've got a good enough team to get into the play-offs.
Swindon Advertiser - Anthony Marshall
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