SWINDON Town slumped to a 2-0 defeat away at League Two leaders Stevenage on Saturday.

In-form Boro struck in the early moments of both halves – twice through Jordan Roberts – to condemn Town to their third league defeat of the season. Meanwhile, the victory extended Stevenage’s winning record at home to 12 consecutive games.

After the hosts dominated the opening half an hour, it was Swindon who enjoyed the better of the middle 30 minutes.

But once Roberts tapped home his second, the game was over as a ponderous Town failed to find a shot on target.

Scott Lindsey’s men will attempt to recover when they host Colchester United at the County Ground next Saturday.

Town made one change to the side which beat Newport County 1-0 last Tuesday as Louis Reed – who has never come on as a substitute since signing – dropped to the bench in favour of Saidou Khan.

Stevenage made two changes themselves as former Town striker Luke Norris missed out with a broken nose and Michael Bostwick dropped to the bench. Another ex-Swindon man, Jake Reeves, started in Bostwick's place, and Jamie Reid was the other replacement.

Confident Stevenage began on the front foot at the Lamex but failed to test Sol Brynn as Khan blocked out an early Roberts piledriver. Town put a slick move together in response, but Ronan Darcy’s long-range effort dribbled well wide of Taye Ashby-Hammond’s left-hand post inside the opening 10 minutes.

And in the 11th minute, Stevenage took the lead following a cross from the right. The first phase was half-cleared by the visitors, but Danny Rose volleyed a lobbed pass from the right post to the left, and Roberts headed down into the corner to nudge Steve Evans’ men in front. The poor start for Town was almost made worse after Roberts aimed to pick out his strike partner with a left-wing cross, but the ball narrowly avoided Danny Rose at the far post.

After another Darcy effort from outside the box sailed wide, Stevenage should have made it 2-0 when a short goal-kick from the visitors went awry. Reid shifted the ball onto his left with just Brynn to beat, but the goalkeeper reached his foot out and took the sting out of the shot before Mathieu Baudry cleared on the line.

A flurry of off-target shots came in for both teams in the moments leading up to half-time, but it was Town who came closest before the break. Aiming to take advantage of a drop in Stevenage standards, Swindon saw a stoppage-time corner fall to Luke Jephcott – but his low shot was blocked out by a wall of red shirts.

Despite an encouraging start to the second half with a handful of crosses from Remeao Hutton and a couple of off-target shots, Stevenage hit Town with a sucker-punch on the hour mark.

Ben Gladwin was robbed of possession in his own half, and Reid was played in down the left edge of the box. The Boro forward looked up and simply slipped a pass across for Roberts tap home from close range.

Swindon saw passionate penalty shouts for handball against Rose waved away shortly after, and Brynn had to be on his toes to push away a well-struck Reid volley with 20 minutes to play.

The visitors dominated possession as the clock ticked on by, but the pace of their play was far too slow to trouble Stevenage and as a result, very few chances were created until the final 10 minutes.

Even then, the quality of the opportunities pieced together by Swindon were fairly low. Substitute Ricky Aguiar crashed narrowly wide from 25 yards, and from a later set-piece Tyrese Shade swung wildly at a loose ball in the box when the goal was gaping. Hutton also blasted just wide in added time.

In the end, Town failed to claim a shot on target and they were forced to depart the Lamex Stadium with no points for their efforts.

SFC starting XI: Ashby-Hammond, James-Wildin, Reeves, Piergianni, Sweeney, Roberts, Vancooten, Gilbey, Reid, Earley, Rose.

SFC substitutes: Chapman, Clark, Taylor, K Smith, Read, Amoo, Bostwick.

STFC starting XI: Brynn, Hutton, Baudry, Clayton, Blake-Tracy, Khan, Gladwin, Darcy, Williams, Jephcott, Wakeling.

STFC substitutes: Brann, Iandolo, Reed, Aguiar, Lavinier, Shade, Brennan.

Attendance: 4,087 (885)

Referee: Scott Oldham