TOWN boss Martin Ling accepted his side are facing a relegation battle after their 5-1 battering at the hands of Fleetwood on Saturday.

The result was Swindon’s heaviest defeat, of what is so far a miserable season, got a performance to match too.

Town were rotten from start to finish as Fleetwood, who started the day below Ling’s side and thoroughly outplayed their visitors to fully deserve their win.

Both Ling and chairman Lee Power had previously said that Town were in a ‘false position’. Now having experienced his third defeat in four games at the helm, Ling has accepted his team are where they deserve to be.

“I think we are in a real scrap,” he told the local media.

“(If) you’re down there after 18 games, the league table doesn’t tell lies. We’ve got to believe that we are in a scrap and got to find a way of getting out of it.

“(Fleetwood) were a team below us and they’re not any more. It looked like one team that was really, really fighting for their lives and one team that wasn’t.

“The disappointing thing is it looked like they know where they are, they know what they’re doing and know they’re in a fight. We’ve got to learn that quickly.

“Two league games, three points, it doesn’t matter what the results are. This was a particularly disappointing display, one we need to put to bed and move on quickly.”