SWINDON Town’s woeful home record this season has been partly down to the side’s habit of conceding goals at vital stages of a game, according to caretaker boss Tommy Wright.

Following a 2-1 reverse to Ipswich Town on Saturday, Swindon lost for the 18th time in all competitions at home this season – a club record.

In a game that had little meaning for either side, Wright’s men had managed to keep the Tractor Boys at bay for over 40 minutes at the County Ground before a clumsy challenge from Jonathan Grounds resulted in a penalty.

James Norwood tucked the spot-kick away shortly before the break, and Swindon’s good work in the first 45 was undone – highlighting a point Wright would go onto make in his post-match interview.

He said: “We keep giving bad goals away at vital stages of the match.

“The penalty was late on (in the first half). It’s 0-0 at the time, they were on top at the time, but go in at 0-0 and it gives you that boost.

“But we went in behind again, and it’s deflating because it was a goal that we should have stopped really.

“We could sit down for maybe three hours and go through every game at home – it would be the same.

“We could sit down for hours and hours, and you’d find that vital moment where we’ve missed a chance and the opposition have taken a chance.

“If we’d stayed in games, as the game wears on where we’re still in it, you’ve got a good chance of winning it.”

Two more goals in the against column pushed Swindon’s tally of strikes conceded up to 86 – the highest figure in League One by seven.

Meanwhile Wright’s men only have one more game, against already-safe Wigan Athletic, to improve on their record of four clean sheets in 45 fixtures.

While the number of goals conceded is plain for all to see, Wright was specifically frustrated with the timing of most of them and highlighted two games in particular where Swindon got it right.

He said: “The prime example was against Bristol Rovers. We stayed in the game and we ended up winning it.

“We’ve never been able to stay in games, and we’ve always given the opposition a one-goal head start.

“We’ve never been on level terms in the final stages of games, the final 10 or 20 minutes.

“Even against Crewe, Crewe were better on the day, but being level gave us something to hang on to and we got three points that day.”