PHIL Brown watched his Swindon Town side record a pre-season defeat as they were beaten 2-0 by Portsmouth. 

Town fans were made to wait for their first glimpse of new signing Toumani Diagouraga, as Brown opted to name him on the bench alongside Jak McCourt.

Former skipper Nathan Thompson returned to the club with their counterparts, as Swindon played at the Energy Check County Ground for the last time before the League Two curtain raiser against Macclesfield Town next month.

Operating a 4-3-3 formation, Swindon got off to a steady start in front of their home fans as they looked to record a pre-season win.

The first chance of the game fell to Ellis Iandolo, as he met Kyle Knoyle's cross from the right-hand side before heading his effort down towards the bottom right corner.

However, his effort was parried by Portsmouth keeper Craig MacGillivray as he managed to push the header past the post.

Offensively, Swindon were lively as Jermain McGlashan, Steven Alzate, Keshi Anderson and Iandolo continued to show great fluidity and progression with the ball.

On-loan midfielder Alzate had another chance to score when he was on the end of Iandolo’s one-two, but the teenager could only bend it wide.

Portsmouth weren’t without a threat of their own. Ollie Hawkins provided an aerial problem for Chris Robertson, Dion Conroy and Lawrence Vigouroux but couldn’t break the deadlock as the first instalment ended 0-0.

Brown opted not to tamper with his line-up in the break as Swindon looked to land the first punch in the second half.

The game picked up where it had left of, as Swindon looked threatening in patches, while Portsmouth duo of Jamal Lowe and Hawkins worked hard throughout.

Hawkins was rewarded for his work when he was able to beat Robertson to a cross from the right and head past Vigouroux to hand the away side a lead in the 57th minute.

Four minutes later, there were signs of some retaliation from Swindon, Elijah Adebayo and Iandolo both had shots saved or blocked, while Dion Conroy saw an acrobatic effort headed clear.

Just after the hour mark, Brown made his first change as Conroy was swapped for youngster Joe Romanski.

With less than 20 minutes to go, Swindon found themselves 2-0 down as Lowe bundled home from close range.

In truth, Swindon unlucky to concede as a clearance bounced back to Conor Chaplain, who squared to Lowe to tap in.

Brown made further alterations to his team with 10 minutes left as Diagouraga, McCourt and James Dunne came on for Iandolo, Alzate and Martin Smith.

From here, the game's tempo deteriorated as Swindon recorded a home defeat to Pompey. 

Swindon Town 

Vigouroux; Knoyle, Robertson, Conroy, Taylor (C); Smith, Alzate, Iandolo; McGlashan, Adebayo, Anderson.

SUBS - McCormick, Romanksi (on for Conroy 65’), Dunne (on for Iandolo 80’), McCourt (on for Alzate 80’), Diagouraga (on for Smith 80’), Young, Edwards (on for McGlashan 87), Twine, Pryce, Henry.