WHEN the full-time whistle blew to confirm Swindon Town’s relegation last season, I naively thought that would be the lowest point in 2017.

Stupidly, I didn’t factor in that we may lose to Crawley Town and Barnet at home in successive weeks in League Two with a 1-7 aggregate score.

But not just lose, being humiliated in consecutive weeks.

When Barnet scored their fourth goal on Saturday, it seemed the atmosphere was more bewilderment than anger.

The fact is that our defensive performances seem to be getting worse week-to-week, on top of the fact these defeats were never part of the script when we kicked off this season.

Over the past week during the international break, we’ve been treated to England games on the box.

Whilst trying not to nod off during these games, you can see a similarity between England and the current Town squad.

Over a number of years, the biggest problem plaguing England is a total lack of team cohesion - they look like a team of strangers.

This label could very well be placed on David Flitcroft’s Town side over the past couple of games.

This is a problem that had a chance of cropping up after the club had to rebuild the squad, with 16 new faces arriving over the summer.

But to incorporate that many new players into a squad was always going to be tough.

You can also apply that to playing in League Two.

Swindon are rightly viewed as one of the favourites to at least earn a play-off spot this season with the club’s larger status and spending of decent money on transfer fees and wages.

But as we know, that doesn’t automatically give you a divine right to earn promotion. Just ask the fans of Portsmouth or Bradford City.

Thankfully we’re only in September, there’s no need to panic.

Time is on Flitcroft’s side as he builds and moulds his starting XI for the big task ahead, starting this Saturday as Town face Luton Town at Kenilworth Road.