GEORGE Barker branded Swindon Town’s performance in their 1-0 home defeat to Oldham Athletic on Saturday as “unacceptable”.

The former Brighton & Hove Albion forward made his full debut and enjoyed his first run-out in front of his new club’s fans but the occasion was tainted by an abject display from the Robins, as they crashed to their first defeat at the County Ground since November 23.

Barker accepted that Town did not do themselves justice on the day and cut a frustrated figure during his post-match interviews with the local media.

“Everyone’s disappointed. Coming off the pitch, knowing that we’ve lost, no one is going to be in a good mood. The gaffer came in and, rightly so, battered us for not playing well today,” he said.

“We needed to get the ball down, pass and be patient with everything. We’re a passing team, we like to be in control of the game and for a lot of it we weren’t in control of it today and that’s where we went wrong.

“For a team like Swindon, we’re really successful at home and we do try and play and get in the right areas to play. When we can’t play we go long and I think it’s our own fault today.

“I’d have liked to have a few more touches than I did out there today but I’m still learning. It’s a bit frustrating not to get the ball as much as I would have liked but that was the game today.

“I’ve only been here a few weeks but, from what I’ve seen of the last few games and in training, all the boys work as hard as they can to get things right. The gaffer sets out the way he wants to play in training every day and everyone knows exactly how he wants us to play. We’re doing our best but today, from me as well as everyone else, it wasn’t acceptable.

“I’m happy the gaffer picked me but I don’t like losing games and the fashion we did today was really not good enough.”

Swindon visit Peterborough United for a Johnstone’s Paint Trophy southern section area final first leg tie on Wednesday night and Barker stressed how crucial it is for the Robins to banish the memories of the weekend’s events ahead of the trip.

“It’s a big game on Wednesday and the boys have just got to put it behind us and go again,” he said. Wednesday is an important game for us and hopefully we can get a result there.”