Swindon Town were humbled on the road once again as they were defeated 3-1 by Sutton United at the VPS Community Stadium.

Charlie Lakin nodded home in the first half before a mistake from Jack Bycroft and a Harry Smith header gave the hosts a commanding lead, prior to Paul Glatzel whipping in a free kick in second-half stoppage time.

So, how did the players fare as individuals at the VPS Community Stadium?

GK: Jack Bycroft – 1

He had a howler, there is no way around that. There is no real reason to worry or dwell on the mistakes as he has had many very impressive performances for Swindon since arriving. This just was not one of them.

RCB: Conor McCarthy – 2

The regression of McCarthy has been one of the sadder storylines of the second half of the season. He somehow seems to have lost composure by playing more games and was once again run all over and physically intimidated by Sutton.

CB: Tom Brewitt – 1

It is tough to remember his positive interventions in this game as he was consistently losing track of Smith and took a thorough battering in that individual duel. His misplaced header back to Bycroft to give away a corner summed things up. His passion first, think second approach is not going too well.

LCB: Udoka Godwin-Malife – 3

He had a mixed day that included moments of dealing well with Josh Coley and dealing very poorly with Coley. I thought his decision-making on the ball was uncharacteristically poor as he frequently played ill-advised long balls that gave the ball straight back to Sutton.

RWB: Zac Elbouzedi – 1

After a very promising display on Friday, we had the reverse on Monday. He did a lot of the basics wrong, but the most egregious thing was that you could see him backing out of challenges. He simply didn’t fancy it.

CM: Ricky Aguiar – 2

If the on-field problems this season were to be boiled down to one thing it would be that the midfield has been non-existent far too often. Aguiar was nowhere to be seen in the haze of long balls and yellow shirts latching onto things. He is being asked to do too many things he’s not good at.

CM: Nnamdi Ofoborh – 3

He had the same issue as Aguiar in the first half as you could have been forgiven for not knowing he was playing. I felt he did better in the second half as he put himself about a bit more but still not great.

LWB: Williams Kokolo – 4

His quality of ball was still poor, but he was the only out-ball in the first half and the only one could could relieve the pressure. He wasn’t good, he was just better than everyone else.

CAM: Paul Glatzel – 5

He seemed to panic in the first half. A second straight game in which he was not getting a lot of the ball but when it did come he was rushing things. In a game where a lot of the players showed how much they care, in the second half he was one of very few who seemed genuinely embarrassed by what was going on and tried to do something about stopping it.

ST: Charlie Austin – 2

Like far too many he had more or less no impact on the game. He wasn’t winning his aerial duels or linking play with others particularly effectively and when his big chance did come, he snatched at it.

ST: Aaron Drinan – 2

No more useful than Austin. Despite playing the two more physical forwards, Joe Kizzi and Omar Sowumni had an easy time of dealing with them and never looked under pressure. 16 touches in 90 minutes is horrendous.

Substitutes:

Harry McKirdy – 4

McKirdy added energy when he came on and like Glatzel seemed to understand that he should be trying to do something about what was unfolding. He didn’t create that moment of magic but at least he was more of a handful.

George McEachran – 6

McEachran was actually quite impressive. He came on, he got on the ball, and he made some things happen. He put in a decent shift.

Jake Cain – 3

He came on and then all I can really remember from him was an alright free-kick attempt.

Joel McGregor – 5

He should start on Saturday on the basis of this game. He came on and although he hardly pulled up trees he looked far more up for the fight and made one very nice run through that could have seen him score. A decent debut in very trying circumstances.