SWINDON Town defender Paul Caddis says his teammates ‘shot themselves in the foot’ during their 3-2 loss to West Bromwich Albion under-21s on Tuesday night.

Town conceded three goals for the second game in a row as the more experienced hosts showed their defensive frailties against a talented West Bromwich Albion under-21’s outfit.

Beaten easily for the first goal, Caddis admitted he still has plenty to improve on if he is to be playing at the standard he expects.

Meanwhile, the Scot acknowledged his teammates must learn quickly if they are too reduce the number of defensive errors that have been made in the first two games.

Caddis said: “We’ve conceded three goals first and foremost, so myself and the other defenders and goalkeeper know we’ve got to be better.

“We’ve all got to be better in the final third as well, so there’s plenty to work on.

“We can help by communicating, but you can’t put players into position – they’ve got to learn the game themselves.

“But I’m 32 years old with several hundred games under my belt, I can do better as well. We’ve shot ourselves in the foot again.”

Despite being competitive in both cup games so far this season, Town have conceded goals against the run of play as the visitors hit them on the break.

Caddis stated his teammates’ game management must improve if they are not to suffer the same fate against higher quality opposition once the League One season starts on Saturday.

He said: “This club is used to winning games of football over the last 12 months, so when we do lose it’s a bit of a shock.

“It’s never nice losing games of football, but we weren’t good enough against West Brom and that’s all there is to it.

“I think our game management has got to be better – credit to West Brom because they played the game well – but we need to be much better than that in that regard.

“I know it was a cup tie, but it felt like a basketball match at times.”