There was no heart – Gavin Gunning fumes at Swindon showing

Swindon interim boss Gavin Gunning branded his side’s first-half display “abysmal” as they went down 2-1 at home to Doncaster.

Goals from Maxime Biamou and Hakeeb Adelakun had Rovers 2-0 in front at the break, with Paul Glatzel’s second-half consolation all the hosts could muster.

Gunning said: “You have got to scratch your head, I mean the first half was abysmal.

“Having spoken to the lads before the game and told them what the meaning of the game was, sometimes it simply doesn’t hit home.

“You have to look at yourself in the mirror and think, ‘How do I get motivated for this?’ How you can’t get up for a League Two game is beyond me if we are starting like that.

“It was just flat and the basics going wrong again. There was no heart, they didn’t run and didn’t land on the second balls, they landed on all of the second balls.

“It is a simple game in League Two, do the basics really well and be successful. If you don’t then you just linger here.

“These are the basics of League Two, don’t think you can just play football and you don’t have to do the dirty side of it.”

The visitors took the lead after 10 minutes as Tom Brewitt made a mess of a long ball, allowing Biamou in behind, and, on the bounce, he rocketed a shot into the top corner.

Swindon had a golden chance to level as Udoka Godwin-Malife showed Jack Senior a clean pair of heels and crossed low across the face of goal, but Aaron Drinan’s diving effort sent the ball over.

Doncaster moved further clear in the 26th minute as George Broadbent slipped the ball into Adelakun in space and he tucked home the second.

Within a minute of the restart Conor McCarthy came up from the back and lofted a cross on to the head of Glatzel to score.

Swindon could have levelled from a corner as Rushian Hepburn-Murphy rose highest, but Thimothee Lo-Tutala clawed his effort off the line as Rovers held out.

Doncaster’s win extended their impressive run to just one defeat in their last nine games and Grant McCann was pleased to see them show both sides of their game.

McCann said: “It’s a good win. There were two very good goals in the first half.

“We knew we were coming up against a Swindon team that would have a reaction from losing on Tuesday night so I am pleased to score early on.

“After they score we had to dig in, we probably haven’t done this enough this season when teams have a spell against us.

“We had to stay strong and defend and track runners and block crosses.

“They scored really early on in the second half which lifted their crowd. I reckon three months ago we would probably end up losing that game.”