SWINDON Town head coach Luke Williams conceded that his side were the masters of their own downfall as they collapsed to a crushing 4-0 defeat at Sheffield United this afternoon.

Town were able to blunt a potent Blades attack in a goalless first 45 minutes at Bramall Lane but simply fell apart after the restart as Mark Duffy struck twice and Paul Coutts once in the space of eight minutes leading up to the hour mark.

Substitute Caolan Lavery completed the Blades’ rout in the closing stages, with United ruthlessly capitalising on some lifeless Town defending after the deadlock was broken.

A frustrated Williams admitted that Town’s toothless effort in the face of adversity made life much too easy for the hosts.

“We started the game very brightly and then we just allowed Sheffield United to get on top of us and progressively, it became more and more easy for them to get into our half and get around the box. It’s very difficult to accept when you have started the game so well,” said Williams.

“Someone makes an error and then it leads to another, another, another, and in the end, there are a catalogue of errors that are leading to our opponents hitting the target.

“I don’t know where it comes from, I think we are still suffering mentally with a group that are not strong enough.

“We were still very much in the game at half-time. The scoreline is level and we needed to come out of the traps fast and we needed to be positive with everything we did with our mindset, and I didn’t see that.

“From the very opening exchanges of the second half, it looked like one-way traffic.”

A rare mistake from Lawrence Vigouroux gifted the Blades their opener as he could not hold Duffy’s strike from the edge of the box.

Williams refused to point the finger at his goalkeeper or centre-backs Raphael Branco or Lloyd Jones, but suggested the rest of his side needed to take a long look in the mirror.

“I don’t think any blame can be put on Lawrence’s shoulders at all because he has been spectacular throughout the whole season and again today, he was outstanding,” said Williams.

“There is only so much he can do. If you keep firing balls at him and you keep putting balls across the box, it’s impossible for Lawrence to never make a mistake.

“I think the two centre-backs gave everything and they didn’t hide at all. It’s disappointing that we have lost the game so heavily and the two central defenders have been outstanding at times.

“Other than that, I don’t think anyone can really hold their head up.”