SWINDON Town’s poor away start continued after the 10 men from Wiltshire lost 4-2 against in-form Plymouth Argyle on Tuesday night.

Without manager Richie Wellens present due to his likely move to become manager of Salford City, Town often lacked real direction at Home Park and a crazy first half saw the fall to defeat for the fourth time away from home in the league.

A first-half brace from Joe Edwards, supplemented by Luke Jephcott’s opener, set the tone for Argyle as the Pilgrims scored three in the opening half an hour.

Anthony Grant pulled one back for Town, however, before Hallam Hope levelled before the break.

Town could not hold onto their positive start, mind, as the hosts went ahead again, and Swindon saw Jonny Smith sent off for two yellow cards.

Conor Grant curled a wonderful free-kick home late in the game to add some gloss to the scoreline for Argyle.

Stand-in manager Hunt named an unchanged team from the 2-1 victory over Hull City on Saturday.

Luke Haines featured on the bench once again while Jordan Stevens returned from his self-isolation period, and Mathieu Baudry was included despite Richie Wellens stating he needed a scan for an apparent injury.

Despite the absence of their manager, Town almost made the perfect start after Jonny Smith showed a fantastic turn of pace down the right before getting to the by-line and pulling the ball back into the middle.

Jack Payne flicked it goalwards, but Will Aimson was there to clear off the line for Argyle.

The hosts then netted twice in a matter of minutes to bring Town crashing firmly back down to earth.

First, Danny Mayor twisted and turned away from Akin Odimayo down the left before laying off for Byron Moore to cross into the middle.

Jephcott raced to the near post and beat Matej Kovar to the ball to flick in after five minutes.

Less than two minutes later, Argyle doubled their lead as Edwards got on the end of Mayor's squared ball to tap home from close range.

However, with less than 10 minutes on the clock, Town halved the deficit.

Dion Donohue charged forward and exchanged passes with Jack Payne just outside the box.

The Town left-back drove into the area, faked a pass to take Argyle captain Joe Edwards out of the game, and then slipped the ball inside for Hope to finish smartly at the near post on the turn.

In a breathless start, Hunt’s men almost squared the game up at two after Matt Smith released a rampaging Jonny Smith through the middle.

The attacker composed himself before curling goalwards, but Michael Cooper stood up well to deny him.

Moments later, the visitors did level proceedings as Payne's in-swinging corner was headed goalwards by Anthony Grant.

Jerome Opoku stuck out a leg, but he could only divert the ball into the top corner.

As if to sum up life as a Swindon fan, Plymouth retook the lead two minutes later after Jonathan Grounds was robbed of the ball by Joe Edwards inside his own half.

The Plymouth man played a one-two with Mayor before tapping in for his second.

Matej Kovar made a couple of excellent saves to deny Plymouth a fourth before half-time – both from Mayor with the first being slightly more impressive than the second. Though both deserved applause.

Jonny Smith was shown a yellow for pulling back Byron Moore in the 37th minute, and the Bristol City loanee was given his marching orders on the stroke of half-time.

Referee, John Busy stopped play when Plymouth were about to take a throw-in and – to the surprise of everyone – pulled out a second yellow followed by a red for Smith.

Swapping to a 4-4-1 formation after the break, Town set about trying to burrow their way back into the game, but they were almost out of it in the 55th minute when Panutche Camara crashed an effort against Kovar’s left-hand post.

Camara danced around the challenges of Matt Smith and Anthony Grant, switched the ball onto his right and watched as the ball smacked the post and rebounded away from the edge of the box.

Argyle’s Ryan Hardie saw a well-struck free-kick sting the palms of Kovar just before the hour while the Town stopper once again denied Moore from a tight angle in the 68th minute.

Plymouth would finish the game off comprehensively late on after Donohue brought a Plymouth man down 25 yards out.

Substitute Conor Grant stepped up to curl a wonderful free-kick right into the top corner and away from the despairing Kovar in the 89th minute.

PAFC starting XI: Cooper, Moore, Watts, Opoku, Aimson, Edwards, Fornah, Mayor, Camara, Hardie, Jephcott.

STFC starting XI: Kovar, Caddis, Odimayo, Grounds, Donohue, M Smith, A Grant, J Smith, Payne, J Grant, Hope.