Bristol City 3-0 Swindon Town

Joe Bryan won the Football League's Young Player of the Month award for February

Bristol City moved eight points clear at the top of League One and dealt a massive blow to Swindon Town's automatic promotion chances.

Kieran Agard's classy first-time finish put the hosts ahead towards the end of an enthralling first period.

Swindon were on top in the early stages of the second half, but Joe Bryan's sweet 18-yard strike made it 2-0.

And Aaron Wilbraham crashed home the third after a delightful move down the left flank.

The result, Swindon's second harsh 3-0 defeat in four days, leaves the visitors in fourth place, 10 points off second-placed Preston North End having played a game less.

But with just seven games left to play, their hopes of moving up to the Championship now seemingly rely on the play-offs.

The hosts, however, need just two wins from their remaining five games to be absolutely certain of going up.

City had three strong penalty appeals ignored for some over-zealous marking by Brazilian defender Raphael Rossi Branco at set-pieces and also missed several chances.

But Swindon also threatened in a feisty local derby and forced three increasingly impressive saves from Frank Fielding midway through the first period.

A routine block to keep out an unconvincing Andy Williams attempt was followed by a good diving stop from Ben Gladwin's fierce strike, before a sensational reaction save to keep out Michael Smith's effort.

However Agard's fine strike - his 11th goal of the season - after some fine work by Luke Freeman put the hosts ahead.

Gladwin then hit the bar with a fine strike after cutting inside.

Swindon had the majority of possession after the interval but wasted several good openings, notably when Williams blazed a shot over the bar from the left side of the box.

Bryan's left-foot shot into the top corner doubled the lead and substitute Jay Emmanuel-Thomas and Freeman combined to tee up Wilbraham's late effort.