SWINDON Town head coach Luke Williams admitted that Northampton Town’s late winner was a bitter pill to swallow as he saw his side fall to a fifth straight League One defeat at Sixfields last night.

Having gone behind when Lloyd Jones inadvertently turned the ball into his own net – Lawrence Vigouroux had earlier saved a seventh-minute Marc Richards penalty – after 64 minutes, the travelling Town fans could have been forgiven for thinking a point had been secured when Luke Norris headed home in the 81st minute.

However, parity lasted less than two minutes as poor defending from a Matt Taylor corner let John-Joe O’Toole score and send Swindon home feeling out of love on Valentine’s Day.

“It’s impossible to deal with it straight away because it is too difficult,” said Williams.

“I think it is, again, mentality. We don’t mark in the box properly and maybe lose concentration and again, it cost us.

“Two crosses into the box and we didn’t mark properly and we concede two goals.

“We made a silly tackle in the box early and got away with it because Lawrence got us out of trouble.

“We scored the equaliser and then from the restart, we are so negative and we sit so deep. We allow the opposition to shoot and concede from the corner.

“There’s devastation. The aftermath of something terrible has happened and now we need to dust ourselves down and be ready to go again on Saturday.”

Meanwhile, Williams will have an internal disciplinary matter to deal with this morning after striker Jermaine Hylton was seen leaving the ground before kick-off after discovering he was not included in the matchday squad, having travelled with the team.

“I don’t think any player is happy not being on the bench,” added the Town head coach.

“We travelled to Port Vale last season and Jordan Turnbull got injured getting off the bus, and we started the game with Michael Doughty at centre-back and had to reshuffle and didn’t have the full complement of subs on the bench.

“We weren’t 100 per cent convinced that Luke Norris would be able to play today and bought an extra player, and Luke came through and played his part in the game and scored a good goal.

“Jermaine didn’t want to stay about and be with the team, and left before the kick-off.

“My personal opinion is it’s not (acceptable) and Jermaine will have a different opinion. I’m sure it is something we will sort out in-house.”