SWINDON Town manager Mark Cooper lamented his off-colour creative players after watching the Robins slip to a 1-0 defeat at Sheffield United.

Jose Baxter’s second-half header was enough to claim all three points for the Blades, as Swindon’s wait for a victory at Bramall Lane was extended into a 45th year.

For Cooper, the reasons for the loss lay in midfield where he felt his talented youngsters – Ryan Mason, Massimo Luongo and Alex Pritchard – fell some way short of their usual high standards during 90 frustrating minutes in Yorkshire.

Cooper said after the game: “If your better players on the day don’t produce that little bit of quality that leads to a chance then you’re going to struggle.

“We had loads of possession and I know the fans were desperate for a shot, they made that clear.

“We couldn’t turn the possession into decent openings.

“I’d love to go 4-3-3 or 4-4-2, all-out attack, but after what’s happened to us previously you kind of know what’s going to happen.

“We have to strike a balance.

“It doesn’t matter what system you play, if your better players keep giving the ball away you’re not going to win.

“You get ups and downs and you have to go with it because that’s going to happen with young players – they can be fantastic one week and the next week you don’t know what you’re going to get.

“We stick with it, they’re good players.

“We didn’t keep the ball enough to create enough good chances.

“With the goal, I don’t think they had many other chances in the game.

“It was a tight game.

“I thought we should have defended the cross, I thought Wes should have come and punched it or dealt with it and it was a standing header which looped over him.

“That’s one game where we haven’t picked any points up so we have to make sure we get a positive result next Saturday against Coventry.”