SWINDON Town’s 4-0 thrashing of Stevenage on Saturday left manager Paolo Di Canio wanting “to kick their bottoms”.

The Robins overwhelmed their promotion-chasing hosts in Hertfordshire, with Raffa De Vita, Matt Ritchie, Miles Storey and Adam Rooney netting the goals that inflicted Boro’s heaviest-ever Football League defeat.

But Di Canio still cut a frustrated figure post-match, as he emphasised how irritated he was that his players could not produce such a sublime performance week in week out.

He said: “For two reasons I am very sad today. I’m happy with the performance and as a manager for the three points but sometimes with their brains I would like to kick their bottoms. “You can see that they can do this every week. You can see the physical level, the fitness level they’ve got to compare with the sides that are bigger than us.

“When you are in this condition, when you are like this with your brain the quality comes out.

“In general we have good quality, not the top but good, to stay close there.

“They dominated the game like they can many times during the season if they put their brain in the right way; this is why I am also angry today.

“We played against the team in second place and they couldn’t even underestimate them a bit. When they focus their attention the quality comes out and we are the better side.

“It happened with MK Dons, with Stoke City, with Brighton – we know the story.

“With Scunthorpe, Leyton Orient – I don’t want to say we played really badly but not with the same determination. “More details are made different at the top level. Today we were animals one versus one, we didn’t give them the opportunity to go through and score an easy goal. The last few times it was different.

“The fact that we played well means in a bad and delicate moment of the season for us they came out with energy.

“In general the performance was good, I’m happy for the three points but obviously I’m not completely happy, I’m more angry than ever.

“You can imagine why, I don’t want to say why but you can imagine.

“We battered them – Stevenage that were in second place. That is not frightening because in terms of the way we played and quality we are better.

“Unfortunately something made damage to my team already and that can’t be cancelled. I’m happy for my players because they fully deserve this performance, because they behaved very professionally.”