SWINDON Town assistant coach Scott Marshall believes there were plenty of positives to take on Tuesday night, despite the club going out of the EFL Trophy following a 2-1 defeat at home to Colchester United.

Colchester’s Luke Chambers headed two goals past Lewis Ward from Alan Judge corners in the opening 15 minutes as Town were unable to cope with the early deluge of set-pieces.

Romoney Crichlow – on his return to the side – halved the deficit in first-half injury time with a header of his own, but Swindon were unable to create many clear-cut chances as the hosts searched for penalties at the very least.

Yet, Ben Garner’s side could not find an equaliser, and Swindon’s much-changed XI were left wondering when their next chance to impress might come.

Reflecting on the defeat, Marshall said: “We’re disappointed to go out of the competition, but in terms of positives for our young players, they got a fantastic experience.

“Some of them got their second taste of senior football, and their understanding grows a little bit more. From there, they’re probably learning a lot more from this evening.

“As we’ve said all the way through, it’s good to see the lads who are regularly in and around the squad competing at a good level.”

Town’s XI featured six players under the age of 23, and at times the inexperience was evident. But Swindon rallied as the game progressed and tried to forge an equaliser.

Marshall felt Swindon could have won the game in the end, but admitted the start was not what was required from his players.

Marshall said: “It was a similar line-up to what we’ve used throughout this competition so far, and I think it’s worked well for us in the competition.

“We had a couple of great chances at the end – their goalkeeper has made a couple of good saves – we probably deserved a little bit more.

“But we started the game a little bit slower than we’d have liked. There were a few young guys who were involved, and set pieces were causing us a bit of a problem.

“But when you find yourself 2-0 down early on, I thought we showed good character and I was really pleased to see some of the lads to come through that by responding the way we did. On another night, we come away with a victory.”