PAOLO Di Canio accepted he made mistakes that contributed to Swindon falling at the final hurdle in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy final yesterday, but has vowed to use the lessons learned from the game to improve as a manager.

The Town boss opted to make just one change to his starting 11 from the side that beat Torquay in midweek, giving new signing Jay McEveley his debut at left back, with Alessandro Cibocchi dropping to the bench.

That meant Oliver Risser and Alan McCormack retained their places in the centre of defence while Lee Holmes was preferred on the left wing to Raffa De Vita.

Town were second best for the first 25 minutes of the game but improved considerably after that and played the kind of football that has put many a side to the sword in League Two this season.

However, they failed to turn their dominance at that stage into a goal and they were hit by a suckerpunch minutes into the second half when Risser diverted Alex Mendy’s cross into his own net.

That goal prompted Di Canio to change formation in a bid to get back into the game, bringing on Ronan Murray for Risser and switching to 3-4-3. But Chesterfield capitalised on the space at the back deep in stoppage time to score a second when substitute Craig Westcarr raced through on goal.

“It is a good lesson for me and I have learned that I have to improve,” said Di Canio. “I am a young manager and the first responsible for the defeat is Paolo Di Canio.

“I have only been a manager since June.

“At the beginning it was tough and we had many, many bad moments and it was difficult to change the habit and mentality from last season, but we improved and we had a great run in many competitions until today.

“It is disappointing and the trophy has gone to the north, not the south but I will remember this day as a step forward to improve myself as a manager.

“I was not capable today and while my players were maybe not ready to play on this stage, I am responsible so in some way the responsibility is mine.”

Everyone connected with Swindon had been confident that today would mark one half of a league and cup double this season.

It was not meant to be, but the defeat has left Di Canio more determined than ever before to ensure there will be some silverware in Swindon’s trophy cabinet at the end of the season.

“Win or die, we have to improve together,” he continued. We must not forget the positives in that we went through two competitions. In one we reached the final the other is the league, which is the priority.

“We are at the top with two games in hand and so I am not worried. I know that we will win four or five games from our remaining nine games to secure the title.”