SWINDON Town boss David Flitcroft blasted some ‘criminal’ mistakes from his side after they slipped to a fifth straight defeat in a 3-2 loss at home to Colchester United last night.

Victory would have seen Town climb up to fifth in the League Two table but instead it is the U’s who have that pleasure after coming from behind to claim all three points at the Energy Check County Ground.

Slack marking at set-pieces – the first a corner on the stroke of half-time after Town had led through Kaiyne Woolery’s strike – saw Colchester take control of the contest as Frankie Kent levelled the scores before Mikael Mandron headed the visitors in front just after the hour.

Substitute Kellan Gordon then hauled Town level with a quarter-of-an-hour to play but the home side were caught out again just three minutes later when Sammie Szmodics was gifted the freedom of the penalty area to grab the winner for Colchester.

Flitcroft had stressed the importance of defensive resolve in the build-up to the match, with lapses at the back having been their downfall during this losing run, which made the manner of this latest defeat all the frustrating.

“Over the last 10 days we have gone through being resilient and not conceding from set-pieces, we have done a lot of work on it,” said Flitcroft.

“We go one goal to the good and right before half-time, to give the goal away is criminal after what we have talked about.

“We lose the second contact through individual responsibility and we don’t clear our lines.

“We get punished and the momentum swings to them.

“The second goal is a clean header. He has got a player who is responsible for picking him up but he has got too much time to place his header where he wants it.

“The third goal is just a basic error where we don’t clear our lines and they slip through us with one pass. Three goals at home conceded is criminal.

“There has been an inquest and it is now about challenging us to turn this around.”

After a rare Friday night fixture, Town now have a full week to prepare for their next assignment and will look to return to winning ways when they travel to Crewe Alexandra next Saturday.