Swindon Town 3 Harrogate Town 0: We never gave ourselves a chance, laments Sulphurites boss Simon Weaver

The struggling Sulphurites were beaten 3-0 down in Wiltshire on Saturday afternoon, a result which sees them drop to 21st place in the League Two standings.

They switched off early on to allow Rushian Hepburn-Murphy to convert Remeao Hutton's cross from close range before conceding again just before half-time when the same player finished off Jacob Wakeling’s cut-back.

And although they performed better after the break, any hopes of a comeback were ended on 78 minutes as Joe Tomlinson nodded the ball over Mark Oxley.

Weaver is however adamant that his side could well have gone on to take something from the contest had some sloppy defensive work not “gifted” the Robins a two-goal head-start.

“We were set up to be a really aggressive, pressing-high-up-the-pitch team, we caused frustration right from the off but then gifted a goal after eight minutes,” the Harrogate chief said.

"The first ball anywhere near our box, it has ended up in the back of our net. It was a switch-off moment defensively and then obviously their crowd then go from turning against their team to right behind their team, without much going right on the pitch apart from us giving them the goal.

"We then gave a daft second goal away due to a lack of intensity around the box and it gave us a mountain to climb.

"It would have worked if we hadn’t given the goals away and we’d relaxed on the ball. We really went for it at the start of the second half, we at least had a go for 20 minutes, but then gifted another goal and that was us finished.

"It [Swindon’s third goal] was kamikaze, it looked daft. We’ll have had all the bodies in there, I’m sure, it’s just people not clearing their lines.”

Weaver went with the same starting XI for the fourth game in succession at Swindon having been largely happy with what he’d seen during a run of three consecutive draws in the lead up to Saturday’s loss.

And he dismissed any suggestion that fatigue should have affected his players as early as the eighth minute of the contest, regardless of the fact that this weekend’s match was their fifth in the space of a fortnight.

"I wouldn’t have expected it [fatigue] to show after eight minutes,” he added.

"They have had two days off, these lads. We think of the well-being side and they should be fresh enough to last eight minutes without conceding.

"It’s my fault sometimes, but I don’t think it’s my fault picking the same team and keeping faith with people who worked their socks off on Tuesday night, we just didn’t reproduce that.”

Defeat to the Robins and a victory for Gillingham sees Town drop one place to 21st place in the League Two standings, though they remain four points clear of the relegation zone by virtue of the fact that second-from-bottom Crawley were thrashed 5-2 at home by Carlisle.