THERE is an old joke about not letting certain football teams take your dog for a walk because they can’t hold on to the lead.

But it is no laughing matter for Swindon Town as they have seen their hopes of a place in the play-offs this May all but disappear because they have let winning positions slip from their grasp.

On Saturday they were 1-0 up against MK Dons and lost 2-1, they drew 1-1 at Crewe despite taking the lead and against Crawley they were pegged back after Nathan Byrne’s opener.

“We have been in positions where we have had chances to kill the games off and be comfortable, but we have not,” Town boss Mark Cooper said.

“We have stayed at 1-0 and you are panicking that the next time that the ball goes into your box it will lead to a goal.

“Soon or later the penny has to drop and they have to realise what they need to do to see a game out.

“If they get the ball they have to keep they can’t keep giving it back to the other team.

“We have to make sure that whoever’s job it is to mark a player from corner that they mark him and don’t score him.

“We have to make sure when we ask our full-backs to show the wide players down the line they do that and don’t show them inside like what led to the winning goal on Saturday.

“When players become tired they forget things or there are concentration lapses.”