MICHAEL Flynn admits his Swindon Town side 'shot themselves in the foot' with their defending following their 3-1 defeat at Colchester United.

The Robins slumped to a fourth straight defeat in all competitions, after surrendering a half-time lead to lose at the JobServe Community Stadium.

Swindon, who were beaten 7-4 at home by National League side Aldershot Town last weekend, had gone 1-0 up thanks to Jake Young’s well-taken opener and might well have been further ahead, at the break.

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But Colchester bounced back strongly in the second half and goals from Cameron McGeehan, Samson Tovide and Noah Chilvers sealed the hosts' victory, much to Flynn's discomfort.

Flynn said: “We’re too easy to score against at the moment.

“We’ve let a lead slip five times this season.

“In the first half, I thought we were very, very good and on the front foot but we’ve got to be better in both boxes.

“For their first goal, the cross is too easy and he peels off too easily and we shot ourselves in the foot – we didn’t defend it right.

Gazette:

“We’ve got to be better in both boxes.

“Even when we were winning, playing well and look at the Wrexham game etc, Morecambe, Salford, Crewe and now here tonight, there’s the five games where we’ve thrown leads away.

“We need to be a lot more savvy, wise and the only way to do that is by keep working hard and together.

“The effort and the commitment was there tonight but we were very, very naïve and we dropped too deep in the second half.

"That created a lot more holes, more space in the middle of the pitch and it was harder for us to go and press.

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"I'm not telling them to drop deep; I'm telling them to manage the game.

"We had a chance to go 2-1 up but we need to talk to each other.

"We're a young team who are very, very naïve at the minute.

"It's disappointing how easy we've been to score against."