SWINDON TOWN were struck with three blasts from the past as they fell to a 3-1 defeat away at promotion chasing Colchester United.

Despite having several good chances beaten away by home man of the match, Dean Gerken, Town could not capitalise on Diallang Jaiyesimi’s early second-half goal as they fell to three late strikes from former County Ground players, Theo Robinson and Luke Norris.

Swindon remained top of League Two by a couple of points however as Exeter City were beaten away at Port Vale.

Manager Richie Wellens made one change from last Saturday’s home success over Port Vale – Lloyd Isgrove dropped to the bench while Jordan Lyden returned from his three-game suspension.

The Town boss also named seven substitutes as well, with Tyler Reid and Taylor Curran filling in the final spots.

In a game between two promotion contenders, the opening minutes were always likely to be tight and scrappy, and that’s the way it proved.

Once events settled down, the visitors looked the more likely side to score the game’s opening goal.

Kaiyne Woolery’s cross was beaten away by Dean Gerken while Hallam Hope and Woolery made a mess of a short free-kick with which Colchester almost made the visitors pay from.

Baudry had to be at his bravest to head over a Colchester chance midway through the first half.

Up the other end, brilliant play from Diallang Jaiyesimi in the middle saw the loanee perform a sharp step over and glide past one challenge before sliding Michael Doughty in on goal.

Doughty didn't get much on his effort however, with the midfielder seemingly unhappy about the weight of pass or the attentions of a home defender.

Hallam Hope was quiet early on, though the forward did manage the visitors’ first shot on target just after half an hour.

He charged down Ryan Jackson’s attempted clearance before steadying himself and hammering a right-footed effort straight down Gerken’s throat.

Jaiyesimi and Caddis saw further half-chances fizzle out as Town began to assert their dominance on the home side.

And the first half would remain goalless after Gerken pulled off a superb one-on-one save against Woolery.

Caddis chipped a through ball over the top for the forward, and Woolery did everything right as he struck powerfully towards the far corner.

However, the experienced stopper spread himself to divert the ball out for a corner.

Town would not be denied a goal for very long in the second half though.

Woolery latched onto a hopeful ball down the right channel and smartly pulled the ball back to Hope.

Bobbling, Hope saw his effort blocked out to Doughty who slid the ball into the feet of Jaiyesimi to drill home.

Town almost had a second as the visitors won the ball back in midfield and broke forward.

Doughty picked the ball up and charged forward, dancing past a few tackles before seeing his left-footed effort blocked away from goal by Gerken.

As the hosts pushed forward for an equaliser, Town almost added a second through Hope’s header.

But like in the first half, Colchester’s stopper was heroic in his defiance to claw the frontman’s header off the line and away.

Colchester continued to come forward in numbers as they stepped up their search for an equaliser and went close on several occasions midway through the second 45.

Harry Pell had the best of them as his cheeky lob from inside the box found the roof of the net, as did substitute Luke Norris’ long-range header.

Colchester’s pressure was beginning to tell as Rarmani Edmonds-Green and Rob hunt were shown yellow cards for fouls down the right on substitute Courtney Senior.

Hunt’s foul cost his team more than a yellow however as Colchester found their equaliser.

A free-kick from the right was headed back across goal by Harry Pell for Norris to nod in and drag the hosts level with 16 minutes to play.

From then on, it looked as though only one team was going to win it, and it would not be Richie Wellens’ men - and so it proved.

Yet another Colchester corner was won by Pell who headed down towards the feet of Robinson.

Another ex-Town man was quickest to react as Robinson scrambled the ball over the line to win it for the hosts.

There was to be further punishment for the visitors in the 90th minute as Senior’s ball was patted down by Benda into the path of Robinson to slam home for his second and United’s third.