CONCEDING two poor first-half goals was the root of Swindon Town’s problems in the club’s 3-1 loss to Bradford City on Saturday, according to head coach Ben Garner.
A third league defeat of the season – all of which have come at the County Ground – appeared inevitable at the break as goals from Caolan Lavery and Levi Sutton put Derek Adams’ side in a comfortable position.
And when Theo Robinson struck a superb third with less than 20 minutes to play, the game was all but over.
Jack Payne buried a penalty moments after Robinson’s goal, but it was too little, too late for Swindon.
Asked where he felt the game unfolded for Town, Garner said: “the goals in the first half. We can’t concede goals of that nature.
“We actually started the game reasonably well, and I felt reasonably comfortable. They were making it difficult, sitting in as a back five, and we had a lot of possession, but it was just a case of whether we could break them down.
“We gave them a very poor first goal and an equally poor second goal, and then it’s a mountain to climb from there.”
Town began well against a team they remain winless against in their previous four meetings, but a simple long-throw began the hosts’ downfall in the 17th minute.
Garner admitted the game’s opening goal rocked his side a little bit and threw them off their detailed game plan.
He said: “The first goal certainly knocked us – I don’t know why, because we’re normally good on that front. We’re a resilient group, and we try not to let goals like that impact us.
“It impacted us in a competitive sense, but we also stopped passing the ball for that spell in the first half, and we just can’t do that.
“If we get one back at 2-0 down, it’s game on, but we left ourselves too much to do.”
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