Any hope Latics had of clawing their way back into the game ended within three minutes of the restart when Swindon scored a third goal.

Charlie Austin ran on to a Billy Paynter flick and found the net with a clinical piece of finishing for his 11th goal of the season.

Amazingly it was Swindon's third goal in as many minutes either side of the break, a remarkable turnout in a match which Latics had largely controlled for 44 minutes.

Swindon went on to score a fourth goal just short of the hour when on-loan midfield player Danny Ward latched on to a brilliant through ball from Jonathan Douglas to fire an unstoppble shot past keeper Dean Brill.

Latics had the ball in the net not long after, but Jason Price's close-range header was ruled out for offside as nothing was going their way.

Manager Dave Penney brought on Chris Taylor, Alex Marrow and Joe Colbeck for Danny Whitaker, Dean Furman and Pawel Abbott, and they helped spark a spirited late fightback.

Two of the substitutes combined as Latics finally found the net in the 80th minute. Taylor pulled his shot wide across the face of goal, but the ball fell invitingly for Colbeck to fire home his first goal since his summer move from Bradford City.

Then in the third of five minutes of stoppage time, Latics struck again when keeper Phil Smith completely missed a punch as he attempted to clear a Colbeck cross as the on-loan Price nodded in his first goal for the club from a couple of yards.

Look out on the official website for a match report later tonight.

Full time: Swindon Town 4, Latics 2