AN INJURY-HIT Swindon Storm side were shot down by Bristol Apache as last season’s division champions ran out 40-7 winners.

Swindon were able to keep the scores level in the first quarter but two quickfire touchdowns from the hosts before half-time put them in control of the tie.

However, with no recognised quarterback on the bench, Storm were in trouble when Greg Roscow picked up a knee injury to rule him out of the game.

Wide receiver and kick return Joe Soden also had to go to hospital with a suspected broken arm and dislocated shoulder to leave Swindon’s offensive line short.

Bristol capitalised and scored four touchdowns in the final two quarters, with Swindon only getting over the line once when defensive end Dan Thorne, who was playing as a makeshift quarterback, scored on a run play.

“In the first half we played really well and it was close up until a minute before half-time,” said head coach Colin Branagh, whose side now hold a 2-2 record in the regular season.

“It was in the second quarter that they got two touchdowns. The first was a good touchdown on the reverse and the second one we made a mistake and gave them good field position which lead to another score.

“At half time we still felt like we were in with a chance.

“We had pin-pointed what we wanted to do with the offence and then sadly we got two or three really bad injuries, which scuppered our plans.

“Bristol are a very good unit but the first half gave me hope that ,with a full squad, we can compete with them in the return game in three weeks’ time.

“We have had quite a lot of injuries this season, which has put the offence under pressure so that is mainly our problem.

“We have got a coaching meeting this week where we are going to review the four games and see what we can do better.

“We are going to take stock of our injuries and I am already re-writing an offensive playbook that will reflect that we have lost our starting quarterback for the season to give his replacement a better chance by simplifying things a little bit.”

The Storm are next in action again on Saturday, June 11, when they take on Bristol in the return fixture.