Swindon Town 3 Leyton Orient 2 TWO goals from midfielder Sean Thornton were not enough to earn Orient any reward at the County Ground on Saturday, as they slipped to their seventh away defeat and had defender Tamika Mkandawire sent-off in the closing stag

Swindon Town 3

Leyton Orient 2

TWO goals from midfielder Sean Thornton were not enough to earn Orient any reward at the County Ground on Saturday, as they slipped to their seventh away defeat and had defender Tamika Mkandawire sent-off in the closing stages.

Billy Paynter's contentious 51st-minute penalty had given Swindon the lead, but Thornton levelled things up with a free kick 16 minutes later.

A late double from Swindon's Charlie Austin finally settled the encounter, before Thornton cut the deficit in stoppage time, but it was too little, too late for 10-man O's.

Orient boss Geraint Williams made two changes to the side that had beaten Gillingham 3-1, as Scott McGleish and Ryan Jarvis both dropped to the bench and were replaced by James Scowcroft and Jason Demetriou, as the visitors switched to a 4-5-1 formation for the second successive away game.

"We wanted to be solid and get into the game. The first goal is always important and I think we were frustrating Swindon, because they had a lot of possession without creating much in the first half," said the O's boss

The plan worked well in the opening 45 minutes as the first half ended goalless. Indeed, Orient had the better chances.

Andros Townsend fired over from 20 yards before the visitors wasted a glorious chance on 26 minutes.

Charlie Daniels sent over an excellent cross and Thornton saw his header blocked by David Lucas and then the keeper saved his follow-up attempt.

But the O's boss was unhappy with his side's defending after the break as they conceded three goals, as well as the spot kick that gave Swindon the lead when skipper Stephen Purches was adjudged to have dragged down Alan Sheehan.

Referee Gary Sutton pointed to the spot, much to the annoyance of the O's players and boss Williams.

But Paynter tucked the ball home to give Swindon, one of the division's form teams, the lead and they went on to record their sixth win from seven games in all competitions.

Williams said: "From where I was it looked a very soft penalty. It looked as though the lad threw himself to the floor and it was given.

"I must be honest, I was very, very disappointed with that decision, but I was also very, very disappointed with our defending after that.

"We looked solid in the first half. If we'd have used the ball better, we could have gone in at half time with the lead.

"We have gone away from home, scored two goals and come away with nothing, so it's not good enough."

A bad second half became even worse for Orient when influential defender Mkandawire was dismissed for pulling down Austin as he raced clear a couple of minutes from time.