EFL TROPHY REPORT: Swindon Town (0) v (3) Plymouth Argyle

SWINDON TOWN crashed out of the Leasing.com trophy following a three-nil defeat to Plymouth Argyle at SN1. Goals from Rudden, Grant and Riley saw Ryan Lowe's side win the first of their two meetings with Town this week. Total Sport Swindon's Rajan Hothi gives his match report from the County Ground.

A much-changed Swindon side, that saw seven new arrivals into the starting XI, struggled to find their feet against an Argyle side who controlled the game with relative ease. 

The first chance did fall to the Town. Doughty and Iandolo linked up well and the latter drifted into the box but saw his effort just go wide of Mike Cooper's post. 

However, it was the visitors who came closest to breaking the deadlock in the early exchanges. Steven Benda made a mess of Zak Rudden's cross, but the on-loan Swansea 'keeper redeemed himself as he managed to tip Sarcevic's header just over the bar.

Plymouth then had a glorious chance to take the lead after 12 minutes as Joel Grant's cross found the head of youngster Rudden who could only head wide from close-range.

However, Rudden didn't let the miss get the better of him as he gave Argyle the lead after 14 minutes. 

Gary Sawyer's inviting cross was met by the head of Rudden and his powerful header flew past the hapless Benda to give the visitors the lead. 

Plymouth smelt blood after the opener, and it was almost two for the Pilgrims just a couple minutes later. A free-kick routine saw Sarcevic set-up Joel Grant, but the striker's powerful effort was deflected just over the bar. 

Benda was on-hand to keep Argyle at bay again with Town struggling to cope with Plymouth. This time, Danny Rose gave away possession in the middle of the park, and a quick counter-attack saw the impressive Sarcevic send through Joel Grant, but Benda made a smart stop from close-range to keep Town in it. 

The visitors' dominance wasn't stopping with Lowe's side well on top in the first-half.

A well-crafted move saw Rudden and Grant link-up well and the latter teed up Conor Grant who saw his goal-bound strike deflected past the post. 

Another chance went begging for Plymouth with ten minutes left of the first-half. Joe Riley slipped through Joel Grant, but the 32-year-old's effort drifted wide of Benda's post. 

But just a minute later, Argyle did grab a deserved second. 

Joel Grant was once again sent through on goal by Sarcevic, and he made no mistake this time as his beautiful curling finish put the visitors in firm control with the Pilgrims giving Town a footballing lesson in the first-half. 

Swindon went into the half-time interval with their tails between the legs as Plymouth were threatening to run riot at SN1. 

The second-half started in the same fashion as the first. Plymouth were in the ascendancy Sarcevic's effort just went wide, and evaded Sawyer at the back-post who would've had an easy tap-in.

Benda was putting in an impressive debut and was called into action again to prevent a third. Sarcevic was once again at the heart of Argyle's attack, and the 27-year-old found Sawyer, but Benda pulled off a superb stop from the left-backs thunderous volley. 

A rare Swindon attack on the hour-mark saw Eoin Doyle presented with a chance on the edge of the box, but his tame strike was straight down the throat of Cooper. 

Plymouth put the game to bed after 66 minutes courtesy of their right-back Joe Riley.

Woolery's poor pass gave Argyle the chance to attack. Broadbent did well to head away the initial effort, but he could only head into the path of Sarcevic and his acute pass found Riley who slammed home from inside the box to give the visitors a warranted third. 

There was almost further humiliation for Swindon as the post prevented the Pilgrims from making it 4. 

Rudden and Grant played a clever one-two, and Grant's low-strike had beaten Benda, but the post came to his rescue as it ricocheted the ball across the face of goal. 

Swindon almost grabbed a consolation goal with ten minutes remaining. Lloyd Isgrove was found unmarked in the box, but he had his header casually saved by Cooper.

In truth, it was an extremely poor performance from Town who were dominated from start to finish by an Argyle side who could've added a lot more to their tally if it wasn't for Steven Benda. 

Richie Wellens will be eager to make sure his side don't put in a similar performance on Saturday with Town hitting poor form in recent weeks. Three straight defeats has seen any real momentum come to a crashing halt.