At this point a month ago, we were stuck in the bleak mid-winter but now it feels like a ray of the strong sun is slowly parting the clouds.

That night at Colchester United will hopefully remain the darkest hour in my nearly 20 years of watching Swindon Town. The cold, the very stale surroundings of The JobServe Community Stadium, and a performance with less fight than a YouTuber boxing card made for a very despondent trip home. I will admit at that moment that I saw no way out of the gravity of relegation. Heading into the game against Fleetwood Town exactly a month ago, it felt like the quicksand had the club.

But what has happened since has made that seem like the histrionics it probably was with 28 games left to play. That experience seemed to be the moment when the players and coaches realised that this was terminal........

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