SWINDON Town head coach Ben Garner stated his side were second best in the key moments during their 3-1 defeat to Bradford City on Saturday.

Town suffered their third home defeat of the campaign after first-half goals from Caolan Lavery and Levi Sutton were added to by former Swindon loanee Theo Robinson after the break.

Jack Payne converted his third penalty this season to pull one back with 13 minutes to play, but it proved not enough to spark a comeback that would have seen Swindon secure an unlikely point.

Garner – who watched his side enjoy 73 per cent possession against the Bantams – felt Town were never under serious threat for long at the County Ground, instead it was a lack of concentration at critical junctures that ultimately cost them the points.

Breaking down where the game slipped away from Town, Garner said: “We lost 3-1 because we didn’t defend well enough, we didn’t have enough concentration, we didn’t compete well enough in certain moments of the game.

“It wasn’t spells of pressure, it was moments. That’s where we’ve got to be better. Our concentration levels have got to be much higher because the goals change momentum in a game.

“It’s really important that the players understand that – by giving Bradford that first goal, we then played right into their hands because they could sit in that low block and make it difficult for us to break them down.

“If we get that first goal, it changes the game completely because it opens up and they have to come out at us – it’s a learning curve for us.”

Despite bossing the ball for nearly three quarters of the entire game, Town managed just eight shots in total and five on target as several attacking players suffered under-par displays.

Garner admitted fatigue may have played a part in the home side being unable to create more chances, and said he will consider whether he could have prevented that in the coming days before moving on to plan for Oldham Athletic.

Garner said: “I don’t think we had our usual spark. Perhaps there was a bit of tiredness, following on from a difficult game on Tuesday night against Sutton.

“My first port of call will always be to assess myself. Did I pick the right team? Was it the right shape? Should I have freshened the team up a little bit more? I’ll go through all of those things, and we’ll move onto reviewing it as a group next week.”