Williams – Leeds United's technical director – was among the first people to approach McAllister over the manager's position at Elland Road.

And on the day of their first conversation, in the final throes of January, it will not have seemed conceivable that the Scot's maiden victory as United's boss would materialise almost five weeks later.

The long trudge through a defeat to Tranmere Rovers and three successive draws has been arduous for McAllister, and the overdue sight of him peeling the monkey from his back in Swindon was a delight to behold.

The significance of his team's 1-0 win struck him instantly, and WIlliams also. Hallelujah seemed the most apt of phrases.

United's results have not been so severe as to require a call for divine intervention, but McAllister could see that the club were backing themselves into a corner from which promotion from League One would soon have been unachievable.

Winning has the potential to be habitual, but mediocre form is more likely to become endemic, and seven matches without a victory leading into United's contest with Swindon Town was a period of rotten regression.

A first win for McAllister brought personal satisfaction, but the gratification felt by his club was greater. Saturday's victory was the right result at the right time.

It did not matter to McAllister that his team scored with their only shot on target, or that the larger share of possession on Saturday fell to Swindon.

If his month as manager of Leeds has show him anything, it is that positive results are ample compensation for questionable performances, and never moreso than at the business end of a season.

Swindon were persistent but in a muddled fashion that suited Leeds and as delicate as United's confidence was the incompetence of their hosts left it unhindered. Even the loss of loan signing Stephen O'Halloran to a knee injury in the pre-match warm-up, 15 minutes before he was due to make his debut, could not disrupt the concentration of McAllister's players.

Maurice Malpas, Swindon's manager, decried a defeat for his side which he described as daylight robbery, but his comments were punctuated by the sound of a man clutching at straws.

Simon Cox missed the easiest of chances six minutes before half-time, and an excellent save from Casper Ankergren 17 minutes from time kept the wolf from United's door, but Malpas could not claim that his players had hassled Ankergren from pillar to post.