MARK Cooper said there was “plenty to work on” after watching his side draw 1-1 with Bromley on Saturday.

The Robins were in control of the clash at the Fortress Stadium in the first half but fell apart in the second and were only spared embarassment by a good performance from Wes Foderingham in goal and the Bromley players’ abject finising.

In the end, Michael Smith’s tap-in kept Swindon from falling to defeat and Cooper reflected on the game by saying: “In the second half, when we made the substitutions, we lost our rhythm. We started running with the ball and stopped passing it and people were falling over the ball on a sticky pitch, and we kept getting caught on the break. There’s plenty there to work on.

“It was what we wanted. We got a tough test in terms of fitness. We had a tough week in training, we weren’t going to ease up on the players just because we had a game. We wanted them to work hard this week and second half they were very tired.”

Town are still keen to tie up deals for four Premier League youngsters on loan before the season gets under way on August 9. Jack Stephens of Southampton and Liverpool full-back Brad Smith are on the menu for Cooper, but business is slow at the County Ground at present.

“I’ve said to you guys for a while now, we are three or four players short - even in terms of first-team players to go straight into the team,” said the Robins boss. “We need three or four players in and we need them in quickly so we can work with them. Nothing changes - we keep working, go to the training ground and prepare for Leeds.”

Reports on Saturday night suggesting Nathan Thompson was close to signing for Peterborough United are wide of the mark, with sources close to the Town captain telling the Advertiser there have been no new developments.

Meanwhile, Ty Belford missed the trip to Bromley because of a stomach bug, while Matty Jones was also absent, Jack Barthram was withdrawn at half-time due to a sore groin and Will Randall was absent with a tight hamstring.

“Jack’s had a sore groin for a couple of weeks now. He wanted to play and we took him off as a precaution,” said Cooper.

“Matty Jones we felt wou’d benefit more from having 90 minutes playing against Aston Villa in the youth team.”