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Gunning admits Swindon Town 'rolled over' in second half at Grimsby

Interim boss Gavin Gunning admitted his team “rolled over” during the second half as they were beaten 2-0 at Grimsby Town.

Despite registering 63 per cent possession at Blundell Park, Town failed to muster a shot on target against their struggling League Two counterparts.

The best chance for Gunning’s side came early in the encounter when skipper Charlie Austin headed wide from inside the box.

Second-half strikes from Liam Smith and Donovan Wilson proved enough for the hosts to take all three points.

Assessing the contest, Gunning told BBC Radio Wiltshire: “At this stage of the season it’s a tough one but, to be fair, it’s not just this stage of the season.

“Our performances the past two games have been really good and dominated the ball.

“Today, we were a bit blunt in front of goal. We took the wrong decision a lot of the times. Listen, it happens sometimes. Second half, we were poor. We just rolled over.”

He added: “On the running stats from Tuesday we did cover some proper distance, so maybe that’s a thing. Maybe we were lethargic travelling up to Grimsby.

“But they’re just excuses. The fans travel five-and-a-half hours to come here. The first half, dominant, played some great stuff. Then second half we were a different team.”

The highest Town can now finish in the table on the final day of the campaign is 17^th.

“It’s been a bad season. Listen, we had a good first eight games and then it’s not been good enough, that’s simple,” added Gunning.

Asked whether he felt he had done enough as a coach to change things around since taking over from sacked Michael Flynn in January, the Dubliner replied: “It’s a squad that I inherited. I think you need a pre-season as a coach to get your own ideas across and your own team.

“But yeah, I think so. Performances are good. You come to Grimsby, we dominated, we probably had about 65 per cent possession but we were blunt in front of goal.”

Swindon host Morecambe in their final game of the campaign next Saturday (3pm).