Swindon Town kept their imperious run of form going as they double-dipped either side of halftime in a 5-1 win at Carlisle United.

Swindon were put under the microscope early in the first half and passed that test before Danny Butterworth came back to haunt his old club in stoppage time.

Aaron Drinan, Joe Westley, Paul Glatzel, and Will Wright all struck after the break in a fine afternoon which also saw Jordan Jones sent off and Joe Hugill het a consolation.

For the first time since their late run into the playoffs in 2022, Swindon have won four league games in a row and moved themselves 14 points clear of the drop zone.

After he made a big impact off the bench on Tuesday, Butterworth was rewarded with a start against his former employers. Jake Cain, making his first start since the trip to Bradford City, and Tom Nichols were also brought into the starting line-up. Academy defender Harry Chard was also named in the first league squad of his career following the injury to George Cox.

Despite a barren first half of the season, Ian Holloway had spoken about his wariness of what Carlisle could offer since their January spending spree. Twice within three minutes, they proved him right. The hosts worked the ball into good areas, the first seeing Jones’ cross frantically put behind for a corner and the second needing a last-ditch tackle from Cain.

The opportunities kept coming as another Jones cross was met by Wright, but he left it for Ryan Delaney, who left it for him. Joe Hugill got onto the loose ball and shot on the swivel but fired over.

Not taking control almost cost Swindon again when Tunmise Sobowale hesitantly hit a clearance against Wright and gave away a corner. The Cumbrians worked that opportunity onto the head of Sam Lavelle, who narrowly missed the target.

Part of Swindon’s resurgence had been based on playing in a compact shape, but with Jones on the left and Kadeem Harris on the right, Carlisle wanted the ball out wide and were putting plenty of dangerous balls into the box. The only one not stretched to their limits was Jack Bycroft.

But after a while and with a bit of formational jiggery-pokery, Swindon were able to suss Carlisle out and block all of the balls coming through them which had caused the issues early on.

This led to Town stamping a bit more of their authority on the game and Butterworth making sharp runs through the middle but without really testing Gabe Breeze.

They had the territorial control and also plenty of ventures deep into the final third, but it took until the 43rd minute for a proper shot on goal. Butterworth picked the ball up in a pocket and reversed a pass after spotting the run of Tom Nichols. The attacker looked to finish across Breeze but didn’t generate the power to trouble him.

Then in stoppage time, it was a role reversal as Nichols found himself with the space to slide Butterworth in behind. The striker had just the ‘keeper to beat and slid one beyond him at the near post to score on his Brunton Park return.

A one-goal lead was still a slender one with the attacking chops Carlisle had shown but it didn’t take long for that cushion to start feeling more comfortable. Two minutes after the break after Harry Smith was just about stopped from rolling the defender, Nichols played Drinan into space and he buried a finish in off the post.

Carlisle had the opportunity to respond straight away when Kadeem Harris got beyond Delaney, only for the forward to scuff his cross and allow Bycroft to make a comfortable take.

The home side had to do something drastic to get back into the game and kept pushing and probing but Swindon were happy to play in their compact shape and withstand the bombardment of set pieces.

But Swindon were still dangerous on their own terms, first Drinan got away down the side and played in for Smith to nudge wide, then Gavin Kilkenny drove into space before firing into the gloves of Breeze.

The march to a fourth straight win got a touch easier as a third opposition player this week was sent off against Town. Jordan Jones was adjudged to have dived close to the Swindon area and was off for an early bath.

Meanwhile, Swindon were essentially home and hosed and able to play like it. A scintillating quick-passing move straight through Carlisle culminated with substitute Glatzel sliding a ball across for fellow substitute Westley to turn home.

Joe Hugill scored a wonderful goal as a late consolation but it didn't matter. The fun just kept coming as Glatzel chipped in a delightful goal and then Wright scored directly from a corner.

CUFC starting XI: Breeze, Thomas, Lavelle, Jones, Hugill, McArthur, Williams, Harris, Patching, Whelan, Embleton.

CUFC substitutes: Lewis, Harper, Robson, Scott, Barclay, Bevan, Fusire.

STFC starting XI: Bycroft, Sobowale, Delaney, Wright, Clarke, Smith, Cain, Nichols, Kilkenny, Butterworth.

STFC substitutes: Barden, Cotterill, Glatzel, Tshimanga, Drinan, Westley, Chard.

Attendance: 7,457 (433 away).