RICHIE Wellens blamed no one more than himself on Tuesday night as Swindon Town slumped to a three-goal loss against Colchester United at the Energy Check County Ground.

The momentum-killing loss dropped Town to fourth in the League Two table – four points short of top side Exeter City, who won at home against Port Vale.

Clumsy errors in defence hurt Swindon most. Tom Eastman jumped highest to nod John McGreal’s men in front on the stroke of half-time.

Theo Robinson then scored the first of his two goals when Luke McCormick’s error in goal gifted United a second before Tom Broadbent’s lack of space resulted in Robinson notching a second.

Despite the errors, Wellens blamed himself for the defeat after making what he described as the wrong decision to bring Tom Broadbent on in place of Mathieu Baudry, who exited the game with half-an-hour played with an ankle injury.

Wellens said: “For the first half-an-hour we were very good, we started more or less the same as how we finished our game against Macclesfield.

“Mathieu (Baudry) went off, and the whole dynamic of our team changed – that was my fault, I’ll blame myself for that and take it on the chin.

“I probably made the wrong substitution, I’ll learn from that. After that, we still created a few chances but without playing fluently.

“Anthony Grant was our best player by a mile, he didn’t change his game – he kept his game exactly the same.

“A few players went off the cuff and did what they wanted to. We came away from what we’ve been doing.

“But credit to Colchester, the first goal was a copy of their first in the Carabao Cup and then they caught us out on the counterattack twice.

“I’m disappointed.”

The 39-year-old accepts Colchester United might start to become his bogey team following Town’s pair of three-goal losses against the Essex club.

Ellis Iandolo did earn a touch of praise though for his trying performance in the back four.

“Maybe Colchester are a bogey team, but I would still say that we came off the cuff,” said Wellens.

“Ellis (Iandolo) allowed (Tom) Eastman a free run, but he has played really well and been simple, hard and effective by running the opposition the other way.

“Once the second goal went in, it was always difficult to turn it around. But I’ll look at myself more than anyone tonight.”

Town return to action on Saturday when facing Cambridge United away from home.