Ian Holloway slams his Swindon players for ‘unforgivable’ 4-0 defeat at Colchester

Ian Holloway slams his Swindon players for an ‘unforgivable’ 4-0 defeat at Colchester, which was wrapped up by the 38th minute.

It was all too easy for the hosts, with the U’s taking advantage of a Swindon side who well and truly collapsed in the first half.

The goals started from the 10th minute when Swindon striker Harry Smith inadvertently directed the ball into his own net, following a header from Ellis Iandolo that connected with Jack Payne’s corner.

Tovide then extended the lead for the home side just two minutes later, jumping on a mistake by Ryan Delaney after Payne grabbed possession and delivered a precise pass to his young teammate.

In the 26th minute, Tovide struck again, with a well-placed low shot past goalkeeper Jack Bycroft, after Owura Edwards’s remarkable run the length of the pitch to set him up.

Colchester then made it four by the 38th minute, Payne scoring from close range. Swindon tried to show some fight in the second half, but the they still failed to spark any kind of comeback, the scoreline remaining the same.

The result sees Swindon drop to the bottom of the League Two table with 13 points from 18 games played, while Colchester climb to 17th with 21 points from the same amount of games played.

Interviewer: Well, Ian, defeat this evening, not the performance you wanted from your side.

Ian: That’s an understatement. I give em some praise for the weekend where I thought with 10 men, we showed some guts and showed some belief and played played very well. Yes. It’s a quick turnaround, but we lost every single battle in that first half after the goal went in. Thought we started alright, and then we’re two down. I think we scored an own goal. Will pushed Harry, when he was gonna hit it, he’s headed in his own net. And then after that, we looked dead. It’s unacceptable. They almost look like they don’t care, and it’s almost like a fear factor where we’ve let a goal in. So what? Other games I haven’t seen that, but that was just absolutely hideous.

Interviewer: An improved second half. However, the first half was always gonna make it tough for your side to get back into that game.

Ian: Mate, that’s a too fair a question. Our fans need to know the ones who’ve come up, what on earth that was about. I’m not having that. That is just not good enough. They didn’t compete well enough. They didn’t fight well enough, and we lost it by 15 minutes. I don’t care about goals that go in, providing you keep going, providing you know, we’re having trouble keeping the ball out of our net. We should be scoring as well. We didn’t look like it. They beat us in every battle. And the second half, we were 4-0 down. So at least the lads who came out had a proper go and a right go. And did I pick too many that played a 120 minutes? Maybe I did. I wanted to try and give us some stability, but and maybe the awful penalty shootout that we lost. And their goalie saved so many of our penalties. Maybe that is, but that’s just this is another night. This should be a brand new day we should be after. That’s just not good enough. So I apologise to the fans. We’re in the shit right now. We’re in trouble. So we gotta dig ourselves out of it. And I’m gonna have to bring some people in in in the window.

Interviewer: After a disappointing weekend exit in the FA Cup, as you mentioned in tonight’s performance, how important is your side’s reaction now with with Fleetwood in mind?

Ian: Well, that’s the next thing we’ve gotta do, and it better be nothing like the last thing. And that’s the challenge. That is the challenge. They know what I’ve said in there, and I’m astonished. They don’t look like the people that I think I know when a goal goes in. It’s part of your job trying to keep it out, but that shouldn’t kill you, should it? So bitterly disappointed with that. And I apologise for the people who came up and had to witness that in that first half. For me, that was gutless. They almost looked like they didn’t care that’s unforgivable. I think they do, but it looked like they didn’t. They looked turned to statues which is unbelievable and unforgivable.

Here’s how fans reacted as Ian Holloway slams his Swindon players for the ‘unforgivable’ 4-0 defeat at Colchester…

@RichardSTFC94: REFUND ALL 170 OF THEM THAT WENT!!!! One of, if not the worst performance in Swindon’s history

@declan_pike: This is nothing but heartbreaking. Just sleepwalking towards almost certain relegation and our clueless owner claims he can’t see why there’s protests? Time to give up hope ladies and gents we’re down. #stfc

@OscroftOfficial: Shit players playing for shit coaching staff employed by a shit owner. Place is rotten to the core in every department and we will remember all of them for being the lot who took our great club out of the football league. Fuck the lot of them, we deserve so much better

@LegallySwin: Bottom of the football league. 92 out of 92, yet no one will stand up and take responsibility. There’s no leadership at the club, there’s no self-awareness. We have to stick together and keep going, all of us must recognise where we are now #stfc #coyr

@jamie_watts11: Tonight was the night I totally accepted national league is inevitable. Shameful

@keithfoley73: Bottom of the football league after the most dismal performance in years. Truly awful. Nothing good to say about anything to do with @Official_STFC right now.

@clusterofreds1: Well, we are now bottom of the league. This is very, very upsetting in so many ways for so many reasons.

@SeanH_2: Time to find a new career lads, footballs clearly not for you

@SuggWillSugg: Just a morning thought and It’s a bit perverse but I genuinely think ‘you’re not fit to wear the shirt’ might be my favourite football chant, it’s just so visceral and angry, but really unites the fans singing it. Anyway, unrelated note: #ClemItsTime #stfc

@MrBraindown: A non-league tour might do us good…. (Except it won’t be one of those fun, zesty, quick-fire ten-night tours. It’ll be a gruelling 8 year attrition-fest where literally nobody has fun) #STFC

@RDColU: Swindon truly the most shambolic team I’ve seen us play for a long time. This is not a gloat though, we’ve been there and only just slowly coming out of the other side. We know how much it hurts #STFC

@LostSwindon:
Yes! Yes! Yes! Destroyed 4-0 by #Colchester
WE ARE BOTTOM OF THE FOOTBALL LEAGUE!
#STFC #CUFC #OUFC

@rejamiesta: Has a player even come out and said anything after yesterday? Gutless, pathetic, embarrassing doesn’t even begin to describe it. #stfc

@stfcjosh: Fans deserve so much more than this, careless staff and players along with the worse owner in the EFL bar a few. Would take relegation now if it meant new ownership.

@TheLappin: When does the promotion push start

@GeorgeHogg93: 92nd out of 92 clubs. Bottom of the EFL. What a time to be a fan of the yellow and blue #oufc 💙💛😂

Wealdstone away next season lads 🤣🤣👋👋👋pic.twitter.com/WcpN0oI50K

— Callum (@Callum_OUFC) December 3, 2024