SWINDON Town lost 4-0 to Westbury United in the quarter-finals of the Wiltshire Premier Shield at Meadow Lane on Tuesday night.

A youthful Town side - predominantly made up of players from the academy set up - battled away against their Hellenic League Premier rivals but came up well short in the end after a brace from Harvey Flippance and single strikes from Steve Hulbert and Callum Demkiv.

The quarter-final clash began with both teams keeping the ball for spells as they worked out where attacking joy might come.

Alex Bell had Swindon’s first shot off the match midway through the first half, but it was tame and Lewis Porter gathered easily.

Westbury grew into the contest from then on, and eventually took the lead in the 39th minute - shortly after Callum Winchcombe had cleared off the line from Demkiv.

Ashton Shanley whipped an inviting corner into the box which Ronnie Frost headed back across goal for Hulbert to prod in from close range.

Westbury continued to dominate possession for the remainder of the first half, although Town debutant Emmanuel Idem did well to claim a handful of crosses.

The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald:

Swindon’s young side tried to stamp some kind of authority on the game after the break, but two goals in three second-half minutes pushed the game beyond them.

In the 54th minute, Flippance latched on to a through ball and efficiently slotted home into the bottom right-hand corner.

Moments later, a breakdown in passing from the back by Town saw Flippance take advantage and lay it on a plate for Demkiv, who fired past Idem to make it 3-0.

It could have got worse for Swindon midway through the second half when Demkiv took a touch, turned, and rifled a shot past Idem. However, it was ruled out for offside in the build up.

With 10 minutes to play, Westbury did find their fourth goal - and it came in very similar circumstances to their first.

Jack Biddescombe curled a corner in which Frost headed on - but this time it was Flippance who took his turn to prod past Idem from close range.

George Cowmeadow struck over from range and Levi Francis also headed off target as Town looked for a consolation before the end, but it was not to be.