'Hurting' Holloway threatens to call in the cavalry at Swindon Town in January

Ian Holloway vowed to make his players watch back their dismal 45-minute showing at Colchester, which left them rooted to the bottom of the Football League.

The manager was speaking after his side conceded four goals in 38 first-half minutes in a 4-0 loss at Colchester Community Stadium on Tuesday.

Harry Smith’s own goal followed by Samson Tovide’s double put Hollway’s men 3-0 down, before ex Town man Jack Payne capped off the scoring for the U’s.

Town have just 13 points from 18 league games and are now bottom of the division behind fellow strugglers Morecambe and Carlisle United.

Speaking to BBC Radio Wiltshire post-match, the manager said: “Let’s face it, we’re in the mire right now and we deserve to be after that, that’s unacceptable for me.

“Anybody with a Swindon badge on, I apologise. That’s not good enough and I am going to show them what that looked like.

“They are going to watch every single minute of that first half and say ‘right, what happened to you? Where are you?’.

“And the fight I expect them to have, I didn’t see until the second half but that’s too late. For me, I am hurting badly at the moment.

“We’ve lost to Carlisle already, we’ve lot to Morecambe already and now we’re absolutely, totally rooted to the bottom.

“So every single game is going to get as tough as you like, and if that’s how we’re going to respond I might need the cavalry to come in in the window.”

(Picture: Swindon Town FC YouTube Channel)