Town short at both ends in defeat to the U's says Cooper

George Moncur, son of former Town man John, gave the visitors the lead just three minutes in, after Matthew Briggs was afforded too much space on the left to pick out the on-rushing midfielder.

Wes Thomas pulled Swindon level, finishing from close range after Jordan Turnbull nodded Fabien Robert’s corner into his path.

However, the U’s were out in front again before the break as Callum Harriott got on the end of a delightful Marvin Sordell flick to finish a fine move and the away side held on to take three points back to Essex.

Cooper felt both Harriott and Moncur were afforded too much space by his defence.

“They have got to stop conceding soft goals,” Cooper told the local media. “Those goals were soft goals we knew all about.

“From inside the players, (they have got to have) that (mentality of) ‘I’m going to track my man into the box and not let him score’.

“I said to the players when we get into the box, we get marked, players stay with us. We’re not doing that at the minute.

“You can lead a horse to water you can’t make them drink.

“We put ourselves in trouble with a really early goal that we warned (the players) about. George Moncur got in the box and the player picking him up didn’t mark him and he scored.”

The County Ground chief’s criticisms extended beyond just his defence. He raised issues with his creative forces as well, lambasting them for wasting good positions to deliver too often.

“Our so called flair players didn’t produce today,” he added.

“We got loads of opportunities where we needed the pass or the final cross and we put it behind the goal or hit the first man. We didn’t have that final bit of quality that you need to score a goal.

“It doesn’t matter what formation you play. If you can’t keep the ball out of your net and you can’t put it in their net, then you’re not going to win games.”

The Advertiser was not permitted to attend Cooper’s post-match press duties.