SWINDON Town were forced to change things around up top at the eleventh hour at Gigg Lane.

Luke Norris has been an ever-present for Town since the start of December as Luke Williams and Tim Sherwood have put their trust in the former Gillingham striker to lead the line, despite his less-than-impressive goal return since joining in the summer.

Since then, he has had five different partners join him in attack and it is no wonder that it is an area that Swindon have struggled in.

On Saturday, Williams had his hand forced as he saw Norris pull out of the game when he underwent a late fitness test while the rest of the team went through their pre-match warm-up rituals, testing a pulled muscle picked up in training.

When the 23-year-old failed to prove his fitness and Jermaine Hylton, fresh from his four-goal haul for the development team in midweek, was given his chance to transfer that form into the first team.

However, it wasn’t to be and the fault can’t fall solely on the strikers.

Both Hylton and strike partner Nicky Ajose were busy up top, trying to put pressure on the Bury defence, but when it came to Town in attack, they were left starved of service.

Even the likes of Charlie Austin or Sam Parkin would have looked inept at Gigg Lane if they were forced to feed off the dregs that were coming forward from the men behind them.

Balls were slow moving through the thirds and allowed the Bury defence to get organised and pounce on Swindon's forward two when that pass into them finally came.

Things improved slightly in the second half and the arrival of Jonathan Obika showed a glimpse of just what could be in store if he could stay off the injury table for longer than two games, with snippets of the link-up play with Ajose that made the duo such a formidable force in League One last season.

However, even with the return of Obika, there is little hope of Swindon getting the goals they so desperately require to stave off relegation if the channels of delivery from front to back remain so inefficient.