CARETAKER manager Tommy Wright admitted Swindon Town could have been beaten by 10 after the club lost 5-0 to Milton Keynes Dons on Saturday, consequently confirming relegation to League Two.

Will Grigg struck four times, adding to Scott Fraser’s first-half penalty, as MK ensured Town would go down without so much as a whimper in Buckinghamshire.

It could have been worse for the visitors too, as Andrew Surman missed a glorious chance to add further gloss to the scoreline, Fraser saw an effort blocked on the line, and Lee Camp turned Zak Jules’ late header off the bar.

Milton Keynes were always in control though, scoring twice inside the opening half an hour as ex-Dons defender Mathieu Baudry endured a torrid first game back since the reverse fixture in December.

Wright promptly hooked his centre-back, and afterwards called the decision to play Baudry a “massive mistake”.

LISTEN: Tommy Wright's first 60 seconds of post-match reaction below.

Wright said: “It was always going to be an uphill battle to stay up, but to go down like that – not a lot of pride, not a lot of effort – it could have been 10 really.

“I gambled on Mathieu Baudry, that was a massive mistake, massive, so I’ll take the blame for that.

“But he’s an experienced player, it’s not as if we were playing Barcelona – no disrespect to MK because they’re good.

“Baudry is an experienced player, and he should have been able to get through to half-time. He was miles off it, but I’ll take the blame for that.”

Town knew before kick-off that they had to win all three of their final games to have a chance of staying up, but the first 20 minutes was – by Wright’s own admission – the total opposite of what was required.

The caretaker boss said the way in which Swindon booked their return to League Two was “tame” and that the players must take a long, hard look in the mirror as to why it was allowed to happen.

Wright said: “They were good, but we were so placid in the opening 25 minutes.

“We said we were going to press, but we never got a block, we never got a tackle in, we didn’t nick the ball off anybody really.

“I think it was after about 20 minutes and I wasn’t sure whether we’d got into their half. It’s a very tame way to get relegated, and I’m very disappointed.

“It was always going to be a tall order to stay up, but to go down like that, the players need to take a look at themselves really.”