DAVID Flitcroft admitted Swindon Town’s lack of killer instinct had cost them dear as they slipped to a 3-1 defeat to Coventry City at the Ricoh Arena this afternoon.

A brace of goals from City frontman Marc McNulty proved decisive as, despite a dominant performance with the ball in the second half, Town were unable to make it count on the scoreboard.

Max Biamou rifled City in front and McNulty added a penalty conceded by the visitors’ Matt Preston in the opening 20 minutes before Town fought their way back into it with Ollie Banks touching home his first goal since joining the club.

Town hit the bar in each half as they piled on pressure but were unable to break through and McNulty made their pay by firing in his second after Keshi Anderson had lost possession near his own penalty area.

Flitcroft said: “The first goal (from Biamou) is a good a goal as you’re going to see.

“The lad Biamou has taken the strike on and it’s a wonder strike, so the first goal for me is very difficult to stop.

“Then we need to reset and refocus which is what we don’t do.

“We allow the second one to go in and it’s too easy. The left-hand side of our pitch wasn’t right and we’ve let them in for the second goal.

“We then had the most dominant spell of the game in terms of possession and created good chances, got it to 2-1 and then the momentum was ours.’’

The Town boss had few complaints about the majority of his side’s attacking play, but conceded they were found wanting in terms of their finishinbg.

“In the second half we’ve come out and probably created more chances away from home than we have in two or three games,’’ he added.

“But it’s about being ruthless and scoring at the right times.

“If we score on around 65 or 70 minutes, when the ball is bouncing around, I want to see Coventry players in the goal with the ball.

“We’ve not been ruthless in our pursuit to go and really make it 2-2 and then take the game to 3-2 in our favour.

“I’m disappointed in that aspect, then the third goal really gives them (Coventry) a lift. I don’t think the players deserved to be 3-1 down at that stage but it really gave Coventry spirit for the last 10 minutes.

“So it’s an incredibly disappointing result but it was a front foot performance that created a lot of chances. They (Coventry) won’t have been attacked like that for a long time.’’