Swindon Town enter crisis as away form persists at York City

Ten minutes in at the LNER Community Stadium, it seemed like Swindon were set to break their duck on the road. In no time at all, Town had twice robbed York of the ball and created chances that could easily have ended up in the back of the net. Scott Lindsey’s side resembled his Swindon one more than his Crawley outfit as they passed aimlessly around the back.

But ten minutes was all it took for them to figure out the danger and solve the problem. From the first time Joe Grey dropped in, received a pass from Ryan Fallowfield and motored down the field, this was not a contest. Whilst the two first-half goals were a moment of magic and an unfortunate deflection, York did as they pleased, with nobody in blue and black seemingly capable of preventing the same bounce pass into midfield from happening every time.

Mitch Clark was sent off at York City (Image: Focus Images)

Mitch Clark’s ludicrous red card did not help matters, but 4-0 was a fair result. When asking for recommendations for what to do, I had to tell people that I had already seen the biggest shambles in York. The deeply troubling part is, it was completely in line with what we have seen on the road for a while.

From 18 away matches across all competitions in 2026, Swindon have five wins, three draws, and ten defeats. Joel McGregor’s deeply undeserved leveller against Cambridge United is the last league away goal Swindon have scored, and it has been 178 days since Junior Hoilett snatched a last-minute win at Tranmere Rovers.

Whilst Ian Holloway is totally correct that what happened last year is not a fair reflection on this year, that Billy Bodin and Jake Batty failed to deal with Grimsby Town has no connection with Dan Butler and Joseph Hungbo’s struggles in York. However, since McGregor’s last-second equaliser, Swindon have taken one point on the road, a turgid 0-0 draw with Northampton Town, and been beaten 3-0 twice and 4-0 twice in their five away games.

A cumulative away attendance of 4,469 has been given nothing to grab onto, nothing to cheer, and nothing to talk about on the way home except how miserable they are. Countless weekends away have been described as “fun, other than the football.”

A lot of the time, patterns in football are more coincidental than anything else. Games are lost for far more reasons than where they took place. However, the contrast of three very solid home performances and three dismal away ones is pretty clear. We have entered crisis territory.

Aaron Drinan heads at goal early in the second half (Image: Focus Images)

Swindon have not been entering cauldrons in these games, save for the visceral hate for Holloway at a packed-out Blundell Park. But like a skittish horse, they seem to lose all confidence and semblance of a game plan when the guns start firing.

After the match, Holloway mentioned concerns about training halfway through travelling on Fridays. If that really is a problem, then it seems like an easy fix, but we are at a point where every part of the process needs to be scrutinised. From when the team travels to what they eat to which film is shown on the bus. Johnny English Reborn is not helping. If they need to pull a Don Revie and make the players walk the last 250 yards to the stadium, then get that bus stopped now.

Salford City away is next, the nemesis of last season, and Holloway cannot afford the same thing to happen again, or some even more serious questions will need to be asked.