Swindon 5 Gillingham 0

CARETAKER boss Mick Docherty admitted Gillingham were fortunate to only concede five at Swindon.

Docherty, along with former Swindon boss Iffy Onuora, were powerless to stop their side sliding towards another battering on the road.

"It was a totally inept performance by any standards," said Docherty. "When you concede two goals after six minutes you are immediately on the back foot and you can’t afford to do that at any level.

"We were punished badly for it, we were left chasing the game and there were too many school-boy errors, and it could have been a lot more than five."

The Gills were on the back foot from the start as the home side stormed into a 2-0 lead inside six minutes.

Just four minutes had gone when Jon-Paul McGovern was left unmarked to score from close range, and the advantage was doubled less than two minutes later when on loan striker Simon Cox shot high into Simon Royce's goal after being given too much time in the box.

Gillingham suffered another blow before half-time when defender Ian Cox was forced off with a cut to his head.

Swindon's second goalscorer Cox was unlucky not to make it 3-0 four minutes after the break when his overhead kick came back off the upright.

But the home side did make it three on 52 minutes when Billy Paynter broke through and smashed home.

Swindon's fourth goal came in the 62nd minute when more awful defending saw Cox left all alone to head in McGovern's cross after an attack that had also seen Paynter hit the bar.

Gillingham's misery was complete six minutes from time when a dreadful defensive error by Barry Cogan presented Paynter with the ball and he went round Royce to make it 5-0.

The visitors struggled all afternoon and Gary Mulligan's tame second half header was their only real effort on target.

Gillingham: Royce, Clohessy, Cox (King 12), Sodje, Hamilton, Southall, Crofts, Nowland (Bentley h-t), Cogan, Graham (Mulligan 65), Facey.

Subs Not Used: Stillie, Dickson.

Attendance: 6,345.