Swindon fell to their first defeat since October in their final game of the year as Port Vale prevailed as 2-0 winners at Vale Park.
Goals from Scott Burgess and Jake Taylor ensured victory for the Valiants with goals early in each half.
Town’s afternoon was worsened further with injuries to three starters.
First Half
It was a horribly short afternoon for Ellis Iandolo – after less than five minutes he was on the receiving end of heavy tackle from Leon Legge and the left-back had to be stretchered off.
Swindon’s afternoon didn’t get off to a good start either – Tom Pope held the ball up inside the penalty area, laid off to Scott Burgess who finished powerfully into the top corner.
It got worse – Mathieu Baudry pulled after Tom Pope went in behind and was forced off meaning Town had to deploy Anthony Grant at centre-half.
Despite the change of personnel, Swindon were still managing to control the ball but failing to create anything clear-cut.
Eoin Doyle headed wide from a tricky spot outside the near post before Kaiyne Woolery mis-hit his left-footed shot.
Keshi Anderson had Swindon’s best chance on the stroke half-time – a badly-timed bobble prevented him from taking the shot earlier and his strike went into the arms of Scott Brown in the end.
Second Half
Within seven minutes of the second half, another well-taken goal left the visitors with a real mountain to climb. Jake Taylor picked up the ball with little space but took a quick shot and bent the ball into the top corner.
Swindon continued to work the ball but with little threat to the Vale goalkeeper, Scott Brown.
In flashes, Town looked like their usual selves but the consistency was not there and Vale made the game bitty, difficult to get any rhythm in.
Two chances for the final, killer ball went begging – first Jerry Yates’ cross found Brown’s hands rather than Doyle’s feet with the Irishman lurking in space at the back post.
Doyle was then almost the provider but was, again, inches away rather than on the money – his lay off to Anderson was just too far in front of his team-mate. Anderson, with 15 minutes to play, pulled up with a quad injury to add to a bad day at the office.
