SWINDON Town manager David Flitcroft felt a weekend of surprise results in League Two only served to reinforce his beliefs over the unpredictable nature of the fourth tier and the challenges every side faces in their promotion push.

Town fell to a disappointing 2-1 defeat away at a Chesterfield side sitting second from bottom of the table on Saturday but they were not the only team to suffer a setback.

Wycombe Wanderers began the day in the top two after picking up 22 of the first 24 available points in 2018 but they were beaten at home by lowly Morecambe, while another promotion contender, Lincoln City, were also stunned in front of their own fans by Crewe Alexandra.

Flitcroft acknowledged Town failed to respond to Chesterfield’s early goal as Chris O’Grady gave the Spireites the lead in the second minute.

Andy Kellett doubled Chesterfield’s lead early in the second half before 10-man Swindon – dented by the sending off of Ollie Banks – responded through Chris Robertson.

But it was a case of too little, too late for Town, who dropped one place to seventh following the loss, with Flitcroft believing it proves that nothing can be taken for granted against teams “fighting for their football lives”.

Flitcroft said: “I will always say it but it is an honest league. People will make honest decisions and get things wrong. It is League Two and that’s what you have got.

“You can go away somewhere and people won’t roll over. It might lack quality at times but they won’t roll over and die, they are fighting for their football lives.

“Crewe won at Lincoln and I would never have seen that one coming with Lincoln’s results.

“We have got to focus on getting the maximum result out of every match. We didn’t do that on Saturday but there are another 11 opportunities left to look forward to so we can hopefully end this season on a high.”

After beating Port Vale at the Energy Check County Ground a week earlier, Flitcroft was pleased with his side’s build-up to the trip to Chesterfield - making the loss even more disappointing.

Town, unbeaten at home since Boxing Day, now face two ties in front of their own fans in succession as they look to continue their play-off push.

They play host to Yeovil on Saturday before Cheltenham make the short trip south a week later.

Flitcroft said: “The preparation was really good and that is what is disappointing more than anything. We looked sort of under-cooked and we looked as though we couldn’t do simple things well.

“We conceded a goal early doors and as a group of players, you have got to get over that. You have still got 90 minutes to win the match and this team does know how to fight back from being in negative equity.”