AFTER previously producing their best football and results away from Wiltshire this season, Town struggled on the road this week.

With only a third of the season left every point won and lost takes on more of an important significance, especially with the tough opponents lined up for the coming week.

This weekend Town face an in-form Mansfield Town side before taking the short trip to Adams Park to face another high-flying side, Wycombe Wanderers, next Tuesday.

Both of these games will gauge how likely it is we’ll see Town finish inside the top three, with both Mansfield and Wycombe being among their main rivals for a automatic promotion spot along with Luton Town.

I’m not saying that if we don’t get a positive result from both we’ll have to settle for the play-offs, as the standard in League Two this season has been so poor.

But with Town already losing 12 games they don’t have much room left for any more mistakes.

After enjoying a successful transfer window overall in January, the business conducted on deadline day last Wednesday was disappointing.

Swindon welcomed Bristol Rovers centre back Rollin Menayese on loan until the end of the season, but allowed James Brophy and John Goddard to move on.

It was right to let Brophy leave as he needs more game time to progress in his career, but allowing Goddard to leave I think will prove to be a mistake in the long run.

My disappointment with our one new addition isn’t with the player, but the club’s lack of ambition when looking for such a key member of the squad.

David Flitcroft needed to sign a new centre-back during this window, with Chris Robertson far too inconsistent and Ben Purkiss clearly not a natural in that position.

Instead we’ve signed someone to be a temporary fix and not invested in an area of huge importance.

It’s clear some money is available as Keshi Anderson was signed for an undisclosed fee.

But it seems the club’s front line is getting more attention than the defence, a mistake made last summer which has resulted in a below average defensive line-up throughout the season.