SWINDON Town suffered consecutive defeats over the Easter weekend following a 2-1 defeat away at Burton Albion on Easter Monday.

Town went a goal down in the first half when Tom Hamer headed home a free-kick, but John Sheridan’s men levelled the game up through Jack Payne prior to the half-time interval.

However, as the visitors pressed for a winner, they were sucker-punched by a late John Brayford header inside the final 10 minutes.

Defeat left Swindon in 20th and outside of the bottom four via a favourable head-to-head record over the side directly below them, Bristol Rovers – though Town do have a game in hand. Rovers were the only team in the bottom six to claim three points.

There was one change to Swindon’s starting XI as Jordon Garrick dropped out in favour of the returning Christopher Missilou. Meanwhile, former Brewers man Matty Palmer donned the captain's armband against his former side.

Burton also made one change as Michael Bostwick came in for Josh Earl with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink shuffling his back line. Ex-Town loanee Jonny Smith started on the wing for the Brewers.

Town’s afternoon could hardly have got off to a worse start after Ellis Iandolo lasted just two minutes before having to be substituted courtesy of a hamstring issue. Jonathan Grounds came on in his place.

A scrappy 10 minutes followed before the first shot on target of the afternoon arrived. Twine struck a dipping long-range free kick safely into the arms of Brewers stopper, Ben Garratt.

Five minutes later, Burton were almost handed the game’s opening goal following a severely under-hit header from Paul Caddis. Burton’s long-serving winger Lucas Akins stole in, but his acrobatic volley towards goal rolled wide.

Burton were beginning to build up a head of steam midway through the first half, and former Town loanee Smith stung the palms of Lee Camp from distance as the hosts found their groove.

Moments later, Smith was involved as Hasselbaink’s men took the lead. The winger curled a free-kick in from the left onto the head of Hamer who simply nodded it back in the direction it came and past Camp.

Burton then saw claims for a penalty waved away as a headed effort at goal struck Anthony Grant.

Swindon managed to recover from a shaky 10 minutes in fine style after a series of corners – one of which saw Caddis volley goalwards – resulted in Payne shooting from distance.

The midfielder took a touch out of his feet on the right before whipping a powerful effort into the far corner from 25 yards out.

Keen to press on with the momentum they had garnered, Christopher Missilou was next to set his sights. Unfortunately for Sheridan’s men, Missilou’s attempt was off target by some margin.

A scrappy final five minutes capped off an intriguing first half at the Pirelli Stadium.

Town took a few minutes to find their feet in the second half, but once they did, the visitors saw a couple of good opportunities pass by without reward.

Following a swerving long-range effort from Payne that missed the target, Swindon went close to taking the lead after tidy work from Caddis and Payne saw the latter break into the box and fire across goal towards Pitman. Frustratingly for the Town bench, Carter was on the line to turn Pitman's tame first-time strike away.

As Town continued to bubble along nicely, in terms of pressure, Caddis and Payne combined well to find Missilou in a pocket of space down the right side of the box. The midfielder drilled just off target via a deflection, but it signalled the visitors’ intent.

Shortly after the hour, Hemmings was booked for a series of fouls, and from the resulting free-kick, Twine received the ball short 30 yards out.

The Town man blasted at goal, and it was well saved by Garratt but pushed straight back out towards Pitman. Unfortunately for Town, Pitman was unable to direct the rebound on target while running at full speed.

Up the other end, Hamer's long throw-in caused absolute mayhem in the Town box with 20 minutes to go. Legs were flying around all over the place before the ball eventually found its way into the hands of Camp.

But as Town continued to pile on the pressure without reward, the home side snatched a late winner. A wonderful delivery from the left-hand side from substitute Joe Powell was powerfully headed home by Brewers captain John Brayford on the penalty spot.

Town were not able to create much of note inside the final 10 minutes, other than a very late Twine free-kick that the attacker curled into the stand behind the goal.

BAFC starting XI: Garratt, Brayford, Edwards, Bostwick, Hemmings, Akins, J Smith, Carter, Clare, Hamer, Mancienne.

SUBS: O'Hara, Powell, Earl, Broom, O'Toole, Fondop, Taylor.

STFC starting XI: Camp, Caddis, Odimayo, A Grant, Iandolo, Thompson, Palmer (C), Payne, Missilou, Twine, Pitman.

SUBS: Matthews, Grounds, Smith, Garrick, J Grant, Curran, Hope.