SCOTT Lindsey says Swindon Town did not press up the pitch as much as he would have liked as they were beaten 3-1 at home by Plymouth Argyle in the Papa John's Trophy.

First-half goals from teenage duo Will Jenkins-Davies and Oscar Halls in the space of two minutes gave Argyle a 2-0 cushion going into the break at the County Ground, with forward Ryan Hardie netting a third in the 88th minute.

Despite a late consolation goal from debutant substitute Rushian Hepburn-Murphy, the League One visitors proved too strong as Town’s chance of making it out the group stage appeared to vanish.

“We didn’t commit to the press as much as I would have liked," admitted head coach Lindsey.

“When we did press, we were able to win it high up the pitch, however when we didn’t, they played it through us too easily for my liking which led to me changing it a bit at half-time.”

Lindsey’s side did come out looking better in the second period as they looked to get themselves back into the game.

“I thought we played really well second half especially, we were much more committed in the second 45 than we were in the first," he said.

“In that second period we were very good possession-wise, which led to us creating some good chances and threatening their defence.”

Lindsey made a number of changes to his line-up, with Ellis Iandolo making his return from injury.

He said: “We had to change our shape today to match them which I don’t really like doing, as nine out of 10 teams usually have to change to cope with us, so we found that hard.”

One bright spark of the evening for the home side was Hepburn-Murphy getting on the scoresheet after capitalising on a loose pass from Argyle and slotting the ball coolly past keeper Callum Burton.

Town’s deadline day signing had endured a lengthy period without playing following an injury, and Lindsey was eager to give his praise to the forward. 

“Rushian [Hepburn-Murphy] is an exciter and an igniter,” he said.

“He was only on the pitch for 30 minutes and I thought he brought the game to life, he added that energy that will get fans on the edge of their seats during games.”

Town return to Sky Bet League Two duty on Saturday when they travel to Grimsby (3pm).