IT IS AT times like this when some in the Swindon Town dressing room may start looking for who to blame.

After Mark Cullen’s header gave the formerly-struggling Blackpool a win over the now-certainly struggling Robins. Some players will have fronted up and shouldered the burden. Others will have blamed their teammates for their shortcomings.

The manager and coaching staff will be looking nervously at each other, not wishing to apportion culpability, but secretly doing so in their own head.

Mark Cooper’s position has come under further scrutiny from fans in the stands and on their keyboards, but it is perhaps unfair to blame him too harshly.

Chairman Lee Power handles the transfers which seem to have left Town short of quality in defence. Luke Williams does the majority of the coaching for a team who has kept one clean sheet in 11 league games.

Cooper’s job remit it seems is just to deliver a team talk and front up to the media he is permitted to talk to. If the manager was so unappreciated in the good times he should also dodge the blame when fortunes are reversed.

Of course he will not. He is the figurehead of a team containing undoubted talented, but currently playing with little imagination or confidence.

The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald:
Mark Cullen puts Blackpool ahead

Few would have argued with the Town manager’s selections in the starting XI at Bloomfield Road.

After a goalscoring return from the bench on Tuesday night at Doncaster, Jonathan Obika returned to the first team as one of three changes.

Town opted for 4-3-3, Obika slotted in on the left side of the front line, with Nicky Ajose continuing his run as the central striker following his goal at the Keepmoat and Henrik Ojamaa on the right.

Town were certainly full of attacking intent in the opening stages. Fabien Robert looked a threat playing at the peak of a midfield three, with the two wide forwards dropping back to give Swindon an extra man in midfield against Blackpool’s 4-4-2.

In defence, the injury to Jordan Williams saw Bradley Barry recalled at right-back, with fellow summer signing James Brophy on the opposite side.

In the unnerving quiet of Bloomfield Road, Swindon dominated the first 15 minutes and looked capable of running through Blackpool whenever they drove from deep. Yaser Kasim and Louis Thompson looked more than capable of dominating their hosts in midfield.

The latter in particular was enjoying himself. The Norwich loanee was the first to test out the Blackpool back line. Driving forward from deep, Thompson was allowed a clear run up to the edge of the box, but his shot was charged down.

Moments later, Robert got into a similar position, having nipped past two challenges, but he could not find enough power to test Doyle.

Thompson was still playing with plenty of drive and looked the player most likely to make something happen. One particular instance, where he won the ball well and evaded a tackle near halfway before playing in Ajose, nearly came to something as Doyle blasted his clearance against a defender, but the keeper reacted fastest to grab the ball on the edge of his box.

The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald:
Jermaine Hylton was introduced after Fabien Robert's injury

Swindon were certainly the better side, but could not unpick the Tangerines’ keen pressing game. The departure of Robert with an injury, to be replaced Jermaine Hylton, just after the 20-minute mark slowed Town’s progress somewhat.

It was a straight swap positionally, but the Frenchman has more experience in the role and after the change Town were less able to take advantage of their extra man in midfield.

Swindon still had the better of the ball, but did little with it. A sadly constant theme of the Town season thus far.

With just over five minutes to go until the break the visitors were punished for their lack of imagination in the most rudimentary way possible.

In some schools of football the set-piece goal is the antithesis of what the game should be about. You get the feeling occasionally with this Town side that they might buy into that, at least when it comes to defending.

Cullen is not a big striker, but he showed more desire to get to Henry Cameron’s left-wing corner than any player in black and got some part his body on the ball to wrong-foot Lawrence Vigouroux.

There was some confusion as to whether the ball had crossed the line from the linesman, whose view was blocked by a jungle of bodies, but referee David Webb was well placed to award Blackpool the goal.

Cullen could have doubled his own tally and the lead before the break when he got in behind Barry on the Town right. Vigouroux made a good stop to deny the forward’s near post effort.

Vigouroux looked unfazed by the furore that dominated the preamble to his recall at Bloomfield Road. He was in action before the break, showing a firm pair of hands to turn away Brad Potts’ well-struck free-kick.

The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald:
Lawrence Vigouroux returned in goal to good effect

Just after the break Ajose finally managed to get away his shot having worked some room on the edge of the box, but his effort dribbled tamely wide. It was a moment that offered a handy summation of Town’s day.

Neil McDonald had introduced Bright Osayi-Samuel, who started, brightly.

Exploiting the space left by Barry on the right as Town pushed forward in search of an equaliser he had three clear chances to add to Blackpool’s lead.

The first drew a double-save from Vigouroux, the second required Barry to hurry back to block and the third he placed wide when one-on-one.

In between times did create a small opening, when Kasim slipped in Obika down the Town right, but Doyle came out to quickly shut down the attack and smother the striker’s effort.

Blackpool were defending deep and blocked a number of goalbound efforts, none of these attempts were enough to worry Doyle or anyone of Tangerine persuasion.

That stood in stark contrast to Potts’ shooting. One forward break and shot in particular had the Swindon fans drawing breath, but Vigouroux got a fingertip to the ball and saw it clip the inside of the post and bounce away.

Of all the talents Town still had on the pitch, it was Brophy who was looking the most likely to make something happen from left-back. He made willing runs behind the Blackpool defence and played clever passes.

On one of his darts into the box he was seemingly bundled to the ground under a challenge, but for the second time this season he was adjudged to have taken a tumble and was booked.

That was the closest it came to causing heart rates to rise in the Blackpool technical area and, by the end, Swindon’s challenge ended with a whimper.

They will need to find some cutting edge and belief from somewhere in their ranks. Perhaps a derby, against Oxford tomorrow, is the perfect place to do that.

If a player cannot get themselves up for a game that means so much to the people watching then the on-field problems are just the tip of the iceberg.