Abject Latics easily toppled

TUSSLE: Athletic's Charles Dunne (right) battles away

THE crescendo of boos upon hearing the final whistle told the story.

Athletic, so impressive in the second half at Coventry a week earlier, fluffed their lines massively against out-of-sorts Swindon at home.

Some Athletic fans said it was one of the worst performances from their team in many a year ­- it really was that bad.

Boss Stephen Robinson looked genuinely shocked and stunned when asked after the game to weigh up what he had just seen.

At times some of the football was embarrassingly poor, littered with schoolboy errors and coming from a team who simply looked devoid of ideas.

Swindon goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux must have been smiling all the way back down motorway on Saturday night ­- it was that easy for him.

Now the troubling statistic reads just FOUR goals in NINE matches for Athletic. With a trip to the 'Big Smoke' and Charlton beckoning tomorrow, Robinson's men really do need firing up.

It was back to SportsDirect.com Park for the ninth Sky Bet League One assignment of the Robinson era.

Much of the talk through the week had been about the five clean sheets thus far of course ­- and credit to the players for that achievement­ - but the quest for more goals surely had to come under sharp focus.

To that end, boss Robinson made one change to his starting line-up, though it was a significant one.

Veteran Lee Croft made a big impact when coming on as a half-time substitute at Coventry seven days earlier, and was was rewarded for that effort. With Brian Wilson dropping out, a 4-4-2 formation appeared to be the way forward on this occasion.

This was a chance for Athletic to make up ground in the table, with Swindon seemingly short of confidence after a troubling run of results.

The Robins' home loss against West Country foes Bristol Rovers four days previously had been a third reverse on the spin, and awkward questions were beginning to be asked of manager Luke Williams.

Harsh maybe, with Swindon sitting on the same amount of points as Athletic, but Williams obviously felt compelled to take some action.

He made a couple of changes, with Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill and Johnny Goddard given the nod to stiffen up a five-man midfield.

Those two in particular made the difference for the visitors, with the former scoring one of the goals and the latter creating both.

Whatever Robinson had said prior to kick-off can't have registered with the Athletic players, as they turned in an abject first-half performance, with the home fans letting them know what they thought when referee Mr Haywood blew for the interval.

The contrast between the second half showing at Coventry and the first period here, was stark in its extremes.

Passes going astray, missed tackles, a look of lethargy at times ­- all the worrying traits were there in the opening 45 minutes.

The only goal of the first period came in the 18th minute.

Jonathan Obika ­- a former Tottenham youngster ­- slotted home comfortably from 15 yards after he had met a neat through-ball from Goddard.

Earlier, Nathan Thompson had blazed over from eight yards when it looked easier to score, while Raphael Rossi-Branco should have rippled the net rather than firing a shot wide following a neat tee-up from Iraqi international schemer Yaser Kasim.

Athletic's first serious effort on goal didn't come until the Robins had struck, with Josh Law curling a free-kick past the post from 25 yards.

At the other end Obika even had the audacity to try a fancy overhead kick, but this time Ripley was perfectly placed to save the day.

Robinson flung on Darius Osei and Ousmane Fane at the interval in place of the ineffective Croft and Marc Klok, but the hosts' downward spiral continued.

There was a glimmer of hope when Ollie Banks produced a purposeful run and show which fizzed wide three minutes after the restart and Peter Clarke might have done better soon after when heading wide from close range attacking a Banks corner.

Ten minutes into the second period the Robins doubled their lead, with more disappointing defending proving costly for Athletic.

Goddard was allowed time and space to get to the by-line and pull a neat cross back for Ormonde-Ottewill, and he tucked a smart shot home.

After the initial celebrations from the Swindon fans in the Chaddy End had died down, what little atmosphere there had been in the home sections simply died.

The home fans watched on as Swindon could, and should, have added to their tally.

Ripley saved his team from further embarrassment, brilliantly keeping Obika, Conor Thomas and Kasim at bay, while Clarke was also forced to hack a Rossi-Branco effort off the line.

Athletic need a quick response. Have the players got the character to bounce back from this? We shall see tomorrow night.