SWINDON Town defender Matt Taylor admitted he would have liked to experience one last promotion in his career but resigned himself to the fact that it wasn’t meant to be.

Taylor’s last game in professional football came in Town’s 3-1 win over Notts County on Saturday – a result that saw the English Football League’s oldest club drop out of the set-up they helped create back in 1888.

County took the lead early on in the second half, courtesy of a Kane Hemmings penalty, and looked destined to perform a miraculous recovery.

However, Macclesfield’s equaliser at home to Cambridge United – coupled with Swindon’s three-goal comeback – sent Neal Ardley’s side into the National League on the final day of the League Two season.

During a career that spanned over 600 games as a professional, Taylor signed for Swindon in August 2017 and endured a couple of near-misses in his hunt for a final promotion as a player.

But this season’s six-point gap to the play-off positions ranks as the most frustrating for the 37-year-old due to the Oxford-born player’s desire to taste success one last time.

Stating that it does not feel strange to him, hearing the phrase ‘now retired Matt Taylor’, the former Portsmouth player said: “We’re talking about retiring from playing football – nothing else.

“It doesn’t feel odd, I’m happy with it, it’s my decision.

“It’s just disappointing that, although we’ve ended the season with three points – which is great – the season has ultimately petered out for us.

“From a personal point of view, it would have been much better had the season still continuing because we were in the play-offs. But that wasn’t meant to be.”

During Taylor’s two-season spell at the Energy Check County Ground, he scored 10 goals – most of which were set-piece goals.

His particular highlight of his time at the club came in last season’s 3-2 defeat away at Wycombe, but in true Taylor style, he claimed the goal did not mean as much to him as three points were not earned on the night.

Reflecting on his time at Swindon, Taylor said: “(The highlight of my time at the club was) probably the goal that I scored against Wycombe away last season because, if I’m honest, it is up there with one of the best free-kicks I’ve ever scored in my career.

“It’s just disappointing that it meant nothing in the grand scheme of the game.

“I’ve really enjoyed my time at Swindon for two years.

“I must say thank you to the fans because they’ve embraced me even though I haven’t been here for very long.

“And listening to the reception I got out there (against Notts County), it’s warming, it’s touching, and I think it makes the day really special for me and my family.”