Swindon Town were on the wrong end of a five-goal thriller as they were defeated by fellow strugglers Morecambe.

Two early goals from Jamie Stott and Ben Tollitt gave the Shrimps a dream start, but Aaron Drinan and Ryan Delaney helped peg the game back to level terms.

It was an old face who came back to haunt the Robins as Hallam Hope beat the offside trap and confidently put his effort past Jack Bycroft to lift them off the bottom spot.

Here are five noteworthy points we picked out from the defeat.

Defending from set pieces is an urgent issue

Despite writing this same point last week, it remains clear that Swindon Town’s defending from set pieces is still a huge issue that cannot be ignored. Four of the five goals Town have conceded in their last two games have been from either free kicks or corners. Nobody picked up Luke Hendrie on the edge of the area for the first goal, who fired into the box and Nnamdi Ofoborh was beaten by Stott, as he showed more desire to get to the ball first. For the second, it was down to simple marking as Tollitt remained unbothered by any opposition player for the whole sequence. He had nobody on him in his initial position, which was just in front of where the free kick was being taken and managed to make a run in behind whilst remaining under no pressure, which allowed him to smash home the second. Teams will continue to target Town from these areas and they will be penalised if they don’t fix it.

The introduction of Aaron Drinan was a positive one

When Joel McGregor was substituted off for Drinan in the 32nd minute, boos and chants of “You don’t know what you’re doing” rang round the Nigel Eady County Ground. Despite supporters showing their disagreement with a change that was out of the blue, it did work from the off as Drinan gave Swindon a route back into the game with his first touch. The substitution was one that brought success however, as the forward did a good job in the air and did his best to give the Robins that attacking edge but could also provide defensive cover. It was a difficult start for McGregor as the initial shape showed signs of being a 4-4-2, which didn’t suit him well as he was in the right midfielder position. 

Paul Glatzel over Kabongo Tshimanga would have been the right choice

Holloway made a swap in the striker department as Glatzel was dropped for Tshimanga, but it wasn’t the right choice. The vision was clear initially as it looked to be a 3-4-3 on paper but with the shape changing, it made the arrival of the on-loan striker not work. He struggled in the air, didn’t have that creative aspect and touched the ball just 18 times. With the midfield looking isolated at times, Glatzel is a player who could easily drop deep and support the two in the middle, who did struggle at times in transition until Danny Butterworth went into the central position in the second half.

Holloway is still learning his best 11 and shape

Having not overseen a pre-season and only being in charge for five games, there are still areas all over the pitch where the former Crystal Palace manager is still trying to figure out his best players and the shape he would like to see. We’ve seen a 4-3-3, a 5-2-3, a 5-3-2 and a 4-4-2 which has been down to changes made because of the opposition, but when he finds a formation that works best for him and the team, it will add much-needed stability as it can be a struggle constantly changing the shape. A consistent selection would help too, as Will Wright and Jack Bycroft are two players who have featured regularly but other positions on the pitch seem to be left unknown. Aspects like injuries and suspensions haven’t helped him however, as Grant Hall made his first league start since suspension against Morecambe and Ryan Delaney has only been available to play long periods of games for a few fixtures. Overall, the sooner it’s found out, the better. When you're in a relegation battle, you need stability.

Town only have themselves to blame after defeat

When looking back on the loss, it’s hard to argue against the point that the defeat left Swindon with only themselves to blame as the goals were avoidable. The first two for Morecambe were poor ones to concede from a Robins point of view and with a few changes defensively, might have not happened. Hope’s goal that put the nail in the coffin was another chance that shouldn’t be occurring. He broke the offside trap with ease which can’t be something that Holloway’s side let happen, especially against a team who were bottom of the league at the time.