Ian Holloway celebrated his 1,000th game as a manager by blowing away Grimsby before blasting critical home fans.
An early Ollie Clarke opener and Kabongo Tshimanga’s brace put Town in the driving seat with the Mariners clawing one back via a late Danny Rose penalty.
The win lifts Swindon to 21st but around 500 home fans in orange beanie hats christened the new fan zone with a pre-match protest demanding owner Clem Morfuni sell up.
The week before Holloway had clashed with a supporter at the side of the pitch after Town’s loss at Bradford.
Holloway said: “If you’re going to try to convince someone else by giving them a free hat, I think you’re an absolute load of nonsense.
“If you get a free hat and it’s cold, you’re gonna wear it.
“I might buy my own hats for everybody. So you put that on, you are an Ian Holloway supporter.
“If you’re a supporter, come and support. There’s no God-given right that Swindon should be where you think they should be. We gotta help them get there.
“I’m going to try and get hold of this club and drag it where I want it to go, screaming and kicking.
“It’s not going to be easy. I didn’t bring this lot together. The people who already did have been sacked.”
In gusty conditions Swindon were ahead after three minutes when a clearance got held up in the air, Tshimanga raced onto a knock-on and the ball broke for captain Clarke to slot in.
Harry Smith should have doubled the lead seconds later but rattled the post and then fired the rebound over.
Before the break Tshimanga gobbled up a poor defensive header which landed at his feet by thundering home.
The Peterborough loanee began the second half in menacing form, rattling the upright in the opening seconds.
After a handball in the away box, Will Wright badly missed from the spot making it six botched penalties in the last seven for the Robins.
A Town break saw Clarke expertly feed Tshimanga who blasted into the roof of the net.
The Mariners got one back from Rose‘s penalty after a foul on George McEachran.
Cameron Gardner then had his point-blank shot saved by Daniel Barden.
Grimsby manager David Artell said: “We never got going. That was our worst performance for a long time.
“We won six of our last seven games away, but we’re not gonna win games when you don’t run around.
“Simple as that, if you don’t want to compete, doesn’t matter who it is, then you’re gonna come a cropper – and we did today.”
Artell said his squad had suffered with illness in the lead up and added: “That’s still no excuse.
“There’s probably one player that did okay today, the rest were way off.”
