SWINDON Town were unable to return to winning ways as they were beaten 4-1 by Barnet at the County Ground.

Following a flurry of late arrivals,  manager David Flitcroft opted to include all four deadline day signings in his matchday squad.

Timi Elsnik was handed his debut alongside Keshi Anderson, while Kellan Gordan and goalkeeper Reice Charles-Cook were named among the substitutes.

Matty Taylor was also given his first start as a Swindon Town player, with Chris Robertson coming in for Dion Conroy.

Initially, Town looked good, the first chance of the game fell to Anderson following some good work down the right hand-side between Donal McDermott and Ben Purkiss.

Purkiss saw his cross met by an incoming Amine Linganzi, however the former Portsmouth man could only scuff his effort before it fell to Anderson, who saw his effort deflected over the bar.

Form here, the home side would have looked to cement their dominance with a goal, but did the opposite in the 10th minute, when a defensive mix up between Lawrence Vigouroux and Robertson gifted Barnet a goal.

With neither player sure who was going to clear, they eventually lost out to Shaquile Coulthirst who pinched possession and walked the ball into an open net with 10 minutes played.

It went downhill fast for Flitcroft and captain Olly Lancashire as the skipper man-handled Almeida Santos in the box six minutes later to concede a penalty.

Experienced striker Jamal Campbell-Ryce made no mistake from the spot, firmly placing the ball low to the right of Vigouroux to double their lead, and advantage they took through to half-time with little trouble.

Flitcroft opted for a double change at the break, Taylor made way for Paul Mullin while Conroy was brought on for Lancashire.

Five minutes into the second instalment a moment of madness from McDermott saw him handed a straight for a challenge on David Tutonda and the Town man who can have little complaints Just before the hour mark Swindon had a great chance to get back in the game as Robertson rose well to meet Hussey’s corner, only for it to be palmed away by Craig Ross.

Attack swiftly turned into defence for the hosts as Swindon were carved open and were lucky not to be 3-0 down as David Tarpey was denied by the crossbar.

With 25 minutes left it was game-over as the Bees grabbed a third, Campbell-Ryce switched to being the supply as he fed Coulthirst, wo was in acres of space, before slotting it past Vigouroux.

Coulthirst was clearly enjoying his afternoon as he added insult to injury with his third of the game.

After jinxing past several Town players, including Robertson and Linganzi, the forward hit a curling shot past Vigouroux to make it four in the 69th minute.

Town were able to restore some pride when Luke Norris head home in the 78th minute, and moments later the numerical advantage was no more as Andre Blackman was given a red card for an off the ball incident on Mullin.

However, it was too little too late for Flitcroft’s men, who slipped to their second home defeat in a week.