Leeds hit a purple patch eight days ago, dispatching Crewe with a flamboyant swagger and five excellent goals, but the result secured in dire circumstances yesterday cannot rank any lower in the list of quality displays under Gary McAllister.

United's boss predicted that their visit to the County Ground would be a grinding contrast to the swashbuckling fixture seen at Elland Road last Saturday, but he could not have guessed the extent to which Leeds would be asked to scrap for their points. Nor could he have complained with the response of the 10 players who took up that exhausting fight.

Leeds lost Alan Sheehan to a red card eight minutes into the League One clash, a dismissal which did the left-back little credit and put United's afternoon in jeopardy before it had begun in earnest.

Sheehan launched himself into a challenge on Jon-Paul McGovern, bringing down the winger with both feet some 60 yards from United's goal, and his early exit entered Leeds into a test of resilience on the pitch where McAllister's first victory as manager was secured last season.

United's mettle underwent a severe test in Wiltshire on March 1, but not to the extent it did yesterday. For McAllister, however, the performance was proof that his squad have the stomach for this season, as well as the class. That much was proven by the fact that Leeds never allowed themselves to look happy with the prospect of a draw.

Jermaine Beckford opened the scoring with his ninth goal of the season, 15 minutes after Sheehan's red card, and it was not until a slight defensive lapse in the final minute of the first half that Swindon teased an equaliser out of McAllister's 10 men.

An inexplicable mistake from Swindon keeper Phil Smith allowed Neil Kilkenny's free-kick to limp over the line five minutes into the second period, and a late third goal from Beckford brought McAllister a victory which he might have thought unlikely, if not impossible, with eight minutes gone.

An unchanged line-up would have been his preference yesterday, but the dismissal of Lubomir Michalik at the end of last Saturday's commanding victory denied him that option.

Rui Marques linked up with Paul Telfer in the centre of defence for the first time, creating a partnership with a combined age of 67.

Long in the tooth the pairing may have been but it was not a combination which McAllister can have lacked confidence in. Yet, considering the fate which had befallen Michalik seven days previously, it was far from ideal to see Marques booked inside five minutes after catching the trailing leg of Simon Cox outside United's box.