BEING a Swindon Town is not good for the heart rate.

Emotions swing from wild joy to bitter disappointment on a weekly basis at the moment.

Up until 4.10pm on Saturday, Town’s week was on a sharp upward curve. A thumping 4-2 win at Spotland on Tuesday was good, Preston’s draw on Friday night with Port Vale an unexpected bonus.

A win against Yeovil, a side with no standout players and certain not to be in League One next season, looked like a formality, a bye, a blank cheque to cash in for credit at the bank named automatic promotion hope.

Perhaps that was the problem. In the opening 30 minutes the game was played like a foregone conclusion. Town ran the show and the Glovers played like the first person to die in a cheesy horror film. A character with the sole purpose of providing fodder for the plotline.

Swindon were to be winners and the hunt for second place, that looked dead in the water after the humbling at Ashton Gate, would be resurrected.

By 5.50pm that story was in the bin next to the Town End. James Berrett’s strike had punctured the lung of belief and broken the heart of momentum.

Perhaps it was too easy. Yeovil certainly defended well, but there was a lackadaisical manner to Town’s play. It was slow and seemed to be based on the premise that their mistakes would not matter because the win would be gifted to them at some point by right, as long as they kept the ball.

An amped-up crowd, buoyed by the pre-match presentation of club legend Jan-Age Fjortoft, were in good voice at the start of the game. The players were unmoved and their expectant swagger failed to fuel the fire of fervour in the stands.

The defeat means it is very likely to be play-offs or bust now for Swindon.

Town must hope second-placed Preston are reeled in by MK Dons - at the moment Karl Robinson’s side are the most dangerous in the division, with a heartbroken North End a far more attractive potential Wembley opponent than Dele Alli et al.

Such thoughts are, of course, premature. Two legs, most likely against Nigel Clough’s erratic Sheffield United will come first. Before then Mark Cooper must get his house in order and settle on his best XI.

Against Yeovil, despite the return of Yaser Kasim from suspension, Cooper named an unchanged team from Tuesday, showing some faith in Anton Rodgers, the Iraqi international serving only to bring Town back to a full complement of substitutes.

A defensive Yeovil, sporting a back five, were limited to aimless long balls into the channels for Kieffer Moore to latch on to, but in truth the Glovers’ lone frontman was running a thankless errand.

Swindon were comfortably knocking the ball around a lush April pitch, with their visitors happy to sit with as many men behind the ball as possible and protect their own area.

With that much time and space, Town were bound to create something eventually. It took 16 minutes and a long-ball diagonal ball, but a chance did come.

Nathan Byrne, latching on to Jack Stephens’ pass and drawing Glovers’ stopper Artur Krysiak out of position, found Jonathan Obika with a tidy side-foot pass, but on the volley and with the goal gaping, the striker could only fire into the side-netting.

Town continued to press forward and came within inches of scoring the opener in the 25th minute. Ben Gladwin, clearly feeling confident after his hat-trick in Rochdale on Tuesday, found a pocket of space and curled a shot out of the clutches of Krysiak, only to see it clip the outside of the post and rebound back into play.

For the rest of the half little of note occurred despite Town’s tight grip on the game. Town were too slow to go through the gears, Rodgers in particular pondering in possession, allowing the Glovers to get organised behind the ball.

Yeovil, however, had one of the better chances to score. With five minutes of the half remaining they won a rare corner after a poor piece of control on the byline from Stephens. The delivery found an unmarked Moore, but the striker’s header was too close to Wes Foderingham, who saved easily.

After the break the visitors seemed to up their pressing in Swindon’s half, putting Stephens and Nathan Thompson under notably more pressure.

Town panicked. Their clearances became hurried and passing less accurate as the Glovers went in search of a prized goal to peg their defensive hopes on.

Without creating anything concrete, Yeovil looked the more likely. The hairiest moment coming in the seconds before their goal. A cross across the box came through the legs of a number of players requiring a panicked clearance.

It was from there that Yeovil got reward, recycling the clearance and finding James Berrett in space 25 yards from goal. The midfielder’s low drive was well-placed, but not overly fierce, but despite a full-length dive from Foderingham, the shot beat him down to his right.

The Town stopper might look back and think he could have been in a better starting position to deal with the strike.

Having slumbered through the start of the second half the goal injected some life into the Swindon attack. Kasim was introduced as Cooper searched for more creativity in the final third.

There were chances. A tidy move involving Byrne, Smith and Luongo saw the strike tee up the Aussie international inside the box. Unfortunately, Byron Webster intervened to send the shot wide.

From the resulting corner came the closest Town got to an equaliser. In a six-yard box scramble the ball fell to Obika, who stabbed an effort at goal. A defensive lunge turned the ball on to the bar and it came down near the line. The Town players appealed for the goal, but both referee and linesman were unmoved.

Gladwin had moved out to the left to accommodate Kasim and looked to be the best source of a chance, initially giving his full-back a torrid time, before the Glovers began to double up on him.

It stifled Town’s approach as they were often forced inside and across the box with no space to shoot. It led to a lot of crab-like football as the home side probed away.

There were glimmers of opportunity, but not enough to sustain a crowd whose patience was on the wane. By the final whistle there were boos and plenty of vacated seats as the County Ground emptied itself, safe in the knowledge it was not going to be Town’s day.

Less than 20 hours after automatic promotion hopes had been reignited, they were dampened down again. It was a meek consolation that results elsewhere meant Cooper’s men can no longer finish lower than fourth place, guaranteeing a home leg second in the play-offs.

This was not the result to inspire confidence that Swindon would even be in the contest by that stage of the post-season.