SWINDON Town’s home hoodoo returned as they slipped to defeat to Coventry City in a pulsating clash at the County Ground.

Luke Norris opened the scoring with a wonderful strike in the first half, but goals in each half from the visitors consigned them to third home defeat of the campaign and means they have taken just four points from 15 on their own turf to date.

David Flitcroft made one change to the starting XI that came away with all three points away to Forest Green Rovers on Friday night.

Chris Hussey was replaced by Matt Taylor, after the former was substituted with a groin injury at the New Lawn and hadn't recovered in time.

There was also a spot for new signing Matt Preston on the bench alongside Kyle Knoyle, while John Goddard remained sidelined through injury.

Prior to kick-off, the two sides occupied sixth and seventh place in the League Two table, with Coventry above Town, due to a superior goal difference but the hosts' Paul Mullin proved to be as tenacious as ever and set the tone within the first 30 seconds of the game, with a crunching tackle on the Sky Blues’ Jodi Jones.

A frenetic start saw the first glimpse of goal fall to the visitors. Striker Max Biamou burst through into the penalty area, before seeing his left-footed shot saved by Lawrence Vigouroux in the Town goal.

Robertson and skipper Olly Lancashire were at the heart of defence for the hosts and, after giving away a spate of penalties earlier this month, Robertson had luck on his side after Coventry were denied a spot-kick in the opening five minutes after he man-handled Biamou.

With Hussey out of the team, Taylor was handed free-kick duties and almost landed a telling blow in the ninth minute, but his effort hit the wall and trickled wide of the post.

While Coventry had made the better start, it was Swindon who took the lead in spectacular style through Norris.

Town’s leading scorer did remarkably well to improvise with Kellan Gordon’s deflected cross, as he swivelled and volleyed home with 20 minutes on the clock.

Two minutes later, Anderson had a perfect opportunity to double the advantage when he latched onto Gordon’s cross, but the Crystal Palace loanee could only side-foot past the post.

Coventry continued to create but were fortunate with their equaliser as Jones’ ball from the right fell into the path of midfielder Michael Doyle who poked it past Vigouroux with just under 15 minutes of the half to play.

After the two goals, both teams seemed to take a collective breather as they went into the interval level.

But in the opening exchanges of the second half, Robertson seemed to ride his luck once more after a slide tackle on Duckens Nazon left the travelling contingent again exasperated that they hadn’t been handed a spot kick.

Six minutes in, Robertson was again the talking point, but this time for the right reasons as his last-ditch tackle on Nazon denied the Coventry man a clear shot at goal.

Just before the hour mark Flitcroft opted to make his first change, bringing on Donal McDermott for Mullin, who had one of his quieter games at the County Ground.

That switch prompted a tactical change from the hosts, with Anderson being shifted out to the left with McDermott slotting behind Norris.

In the 66th minute Amine Linganzi was brought into the fray for Timi Elsnik in a bid to rejuvenate proceedings following a flat passage of play.

But Flitcroft was given something else to think about in the 72nd minute when a 50-50 challenge between James Dunne and Doyle saw the midfielders tangle.

The Town man appeared to react angrily and was dismissed after referee Charles Breakspear consulted his fellow official.

With the game receiving the injection it needed, Town continued to push for a goal that would see them re-establish the lead.

But things went from bad to worse for the home side when Nazon, who had been a constant threat, found a pocket of space outside the area, before leaving Vigouroux rooted to the spot with a superb curling effort.

The Swindon boss used his third and final change with nine minutes left, as Harry Smith came on at the expense of Gordon.

Striker Smith did have an impact after coming on as he held the ball up well in the penalty area late on, before he floated a ball out to Purkiss on the right.

Purkiss fizzed a ball low and hard across the penalty area but Anderson’s meek touch eventually went wide.

The fourth official indicated seven minutes of injury time, which was met by a roar from the majority of the 6,340 fans at the County Ground.

Smith continued to be a pain with his physical presence and could have been awarded a late penalty when he was shoved off the ball when he tried to meet McDermott’s searching cross.

But despite their late rally Town were unable to get themselves back in the game as time ran out.