SWINDON Town will have to go back to the drawing board after Sean Raggett's late header condemned them to a dreary 1-0 defeat at home to Lincoln City.

Manager David Flitcroft opted for an unchanged XI, for the third time this season, after the effective performance in Saturday’s win over Mansfield Town.

But Town’s alarm bells were given an early sounding when a deep, searching ball, was met by the head of Robert Dickie.

His effort was directed goalward and with Reice Charles-Cook beaten, Matt Taylor was there to head clear off the line in the opening three minutes.

Lincoln started the stronger of the two sides, and had another brief sight at goal moments later when Billy Knott’s curled effort floated past Charles-Cook’s far post.

Michael Bostwick was next to wind up a shot after he was allowed far too much space on the edge of the area.

Thankfully for Flitcroft’s troops, who were aiming for back-to-back wins, Charles-Cook partially cleared when he palmed it with his right hand, before smothering any chance that may have fallen to an arriving Josh Ginnelly.

In the 24th minute Taylor was stood over a free-kick for Swindon. His delivery wasn’t claimed by Josh Vickers in the Lincoln goal, but fortunately for the visitors, it came off the back of Keshi Anderson and into the keeper's arms.

Two minutes later Town had another free-kick in almost an identical position, out on the right-hand side. This time Taylor found the head of Lancashire, who was unable to keep his effort on target as it sailed over the bar.

Just before the half-hour mark Swindon appealed for a penalty when Anderson’s driving run was ended by a last-ditch tackle, but nothing was given by referee Scott Oldham, as Town slowly began to creep into contention.

Swindon’s best moment of the first instalment came in the 43rd minute when Taylor dug out a cross to Norris, who headed towards the goal and Anderson, only for it to be collected by Vickers.

In truth, it was a pedestrian 45 minutes from both sides, the visitors looking good early on without making the most of their advantage, while Town went the majority of the half without registering a shot on goal.

In the opening exchanges of the second half, Luke Norris was bundled over which resulted in a free-kick out on the left for the hosts.

This time Taylor decided to have an attempt on goal and deceive the visiting goalkeeper, but his attempt trickled wide of the near post.

The second half was seven minutes old when Swindon had another effort on goal.

Norris did well to pick John Goddard out on the far side of the pitch and the former Woking man charged towards the penalty area and offloaded to Norris.

With the ball on his right foot, Norris swiftly switched and unleashed a vicious strike on his weaker side, which whistled over the bar.

Norris and Paul Mullin were the next pair to combine as a driven ball in was controlled by the top scorer before he poked his strike wide of the mark in what was a difficult chance.

Lincoln were the first to make a change, bringing on Ollie Palmer for Matt Green in the 59th minute.

Three minutes later Swindon had a great chance to counter with Linganzi rushing into the Lincoln half, but as he charged towards the penalty area his pass to Goddard was loose and was intercepted.

Flitcroft’s side were turning the screw and to prevent that, Imps boss Danny Cowley made his second substitution of the night as Elliot Whitehouse was introduced at the expense of Knott.

Even though Lincoln weren’t really troubling Charles-Cook, they came close to breaking the deadlock through Nathan Arnold after his shot hit the post on the right-hand side.

From there, the ball then rebounded towards the substitute Palmer, who was able to hit a firm strike only to be denied by Ben Purkiss.

Both sides were growing increasingly frustrated and Flitcroft made his first change with under 20 minutes to play as Donal McDermott replaced Mullin.

Norris, who had had a frustrating time, rolled his man before being clipped by Bostwick which resulted in a free-kick within shooting range for Taylor, but the former West Ham midfielder was unable to keep his shot down as it flew over the bar.

With Flitcroft barking instructions from the touchline, Swindon were hit by a sucker punch in the 83rd minute when Raggett head home from Jordan Maguire-Drew’s corner to take the lead.

The Town manager looked to give his side a shot in the arm as Kaiyne Woolery was brought on for Purkiss.

The fourth official found a staggering six minutes of added time, but that came and went for Swindon.

In that time Norris showed incredible dedication to the cause as he continued despite holding his shoulder, which he had already dislocated twice so far this season.

However, it was too little too late for Town, whose less-than-inspiring home form continues to stunt their progress in League Two, with the full-time whistle met by boos from disgruntled home supporters.