SWINDON Town head coach Luke Williams bemoaned a drop in standards as they were on the wrong end of an FA Cup shock at home to Eastleigh.

The shine of Tim Sherwood’s arrival at Swindon Town was soon tinged as the magic of the cup fell on the visitors to the County Ground as they returned to Hampshire with a 3-1 win to their names.

First-half goals from Jai Reason and Andy Drury had the home fans fearing the worst and when Mikael Mandron converted from the penalty spot, there was little a late Nathan Delfouneso goal could do to prevent the headlines being written.

Williams admitted that experience won out on the night, with Swindon boasting one of the youngest squads in League One, but says that was no excuse for the early cup exit for the fifth season on the bounce.

“I think it was men against boys tonight and I don’t mean that in a derogatory way to our players, it’s more of a literal sense,” he said.

“There are a team there with hundreds of games behind them and it showed tonight.

“We struggled to keep the intensity we showed at the weekend and we came off second best.

“We were prepared and the players knew what the opposition were going to bring to the table but tonight their will was stronger and we have fallen victim of not maintaining standards.”

Sherwood made an arrival on the touchline after the second goal went in, having watched the opening exchanges from the stand but Williams says his side need to pick up the new tactics the former Tottenham Hotspur manager is trying to imbed.

“He wanted to try and have more input from the side but we knew that was a scenario that may happen and no one was surprised to see Tim down there, he is fully in this with us and wants to help in every way,” he added.

“I don’t think it is a reflection of any individual, I think it is a reflection of us as a group struggling to find consistency.

“There will have to be more discussions and more hard work and the players need to, very quickly, get on board with plenty of new ideas that Tim has brought to the club, which I am sure are going to pay dividends.

“They need to get clued in quickly and show that they can take instructions and put it into practice.”