Defence blamed for Swindon defeat

Maurice Malpas saw his side lose their last chance of silverware

Swindon manager Maurice Malpas blamed defensive mistakes for being knocked out of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy at Brighton and Hove Albion.

Both of the home side's goals in the 2-0 quarter-final loss came after errors by Town's Patrick Kanyuka.

Malpas told BBC Radio Swindon: "Just now we seem to shoot ourselves in the foot. It's becoming frustrating."

The exit came just days after Swindon's humiliating FA Cup first-round defeat at non-league Histon.

Kanyuka gave away a first-half penalty, bringing down Nicky Forster to give Brighton the lead.

The former QPR defender then conceded a needless corner late in the game, from which the Seagulls scored their second.

"It was a bit naive in the first one. Pat is a bit heavy in his attempt to clear the ball," said Malpas.

"There's a bobble when he kicks it out for a corner which is bad enough, but the biggest thing is when the guy gets a free header in the middle of the goal and scores a goal."

The Swindon boss thought there were some positives to take from the match, even though his team saw their chance of taking another step towards a possible Wembley final end.

Malpas said it was a big improvement on the Histon showing.

"We've got to take one or two positives out of it. We looked brighter. In the second half we were the team in the ascendency, we just couldn't get the ball in the net."