SWINDON Town head coach Scott Lindsey says his team must start scoring the first goal in games after a 2-0 defeat away to Crawley Town on Saturday.

Under the stewardship of former West Ham United and Stoke City winger Matthew Etherington for the first time, Crawley struck two late goals to punish the Robins for their lack of thrust in forward areas.

Left-back Nick Tsaroulla saw a heavily-deflected volley squirm past Sol Brynn in the 79th minute, and a mix-up – combined with a tame clearance from Brynn – allowed Jack Powell to clip a wonderfully-weighted second into an unguarded net four minutes later.

A poor afternoon for the Robins was capped off by a serious head injury to Saidou Khan in the latter stages.

After confirming Khan had been taken to a local hospital for analysis, Lindsey turned his attention back to his team’s lack of firepower.

He said: “Your team reflects you and how I am as a person. I want to play good football, but I also want to attack the opposition and be on the front foot.

“We want to score the first goal. The last time we scored the first goal in a game was against Hartlepool United at home, and that was seven games ago.

“I made that point clear in our pre-match meeting, the last time we scored the first goal in a game was October 22. We’ve got to score that first goal.”

A highly-underwhelming first period at the People’s Pension Stadium featured a couple of half-chances for Swindon and a Crawley goal which was ruled out for offside.

In the second half, Swindon were much the better side for the majority but were still unable to force Ellery Balcombe into any kind of save from their 10 attempts.

Lindsey admitted luck had nothing to do with his team’s blank and stated it was simply down to a lack of creativity from his attacking men.

“I believe, for all the possession, the control, the dominance, and the playing through the thirds, if we don’t have that know-how at the top of the pitch and we can’t put it in the net, then all the rest of it is pretty much a waste of effort,” Lindsey said.

“You make your own luck in football by working hard and making those moments count at the top end of the pitch.

“I felt that we played through Crawley quite comfortably, got to the top end of the pitch, and it fizzled to nothing. We’ve got to do better than that, I think that was clear to see.”