SWINDON boss Paolo Di Canio says that being beaten at home by Oxford in August was the catalyst for their season.

The 2-1 defeat remains Town’s only home loss of the campaign, but their manager said that it has helped shape their season.

“We destroyed them in terms of possession and organisation and we saw the difference between us and them straight away,” Di Canio said.

“Over the season this has shown because we are 14 points ahead and have one game in hand, so we are much better than them.

“Of course in one game anything can happen, like it did it in that game in August.

“It was not nice to see the enemy singing songs in our fortress, but probably that was a medicine for us.

“In life you can have medicine that can cure some illness and so in some way they helped us to become stronger and I want to thank them for this.

“Since that day the damage they gave to us helped us to become better, more angry and we play with more togetherness. From that game we came out from a bad moment and we became very strong.

“They built what we are now, with the anger and desire we have, so in some way we are their product.”