Doncaster Rovers made the most of a woeful Swindon Town opening half as they ran out 2-1 winners in League Two.

Doncaster wasted no time in putting a poor Swindon side to the sword as Maxime Biamou and Hakeeb Adelakun both fired home inside the first half an hour.

Paul Glatzel headed home his first goal at the County Ground within a minute of the restart, but Town could not find a leveller.

Swindon are now four games without a win under interim head coach Gavin Gunning and slip below Doncaster into 19th in the table.

Gavin Gunning made three changes to his starting line-up as Sean McGurk, Ricky Aguiar, and Tom Brewitt all came in to replace Rushian Hepburn-Murphy, Charlie Austin, and Williams Kokolo. Boyhood Swindon fan Jack Bycroft was also handed the captain’s armband for the first time.

Just ten minutes into the game, Brewitt stepped out to deal with a long ball but got it wrong. Doncaster flicked the ball into the room created behind him and Biamou was there to rifle a shot into the top corner.

After another drab opening to the game, Swindon began to find some flow as McGurk used his favourite feint to get away from a defender and find Glatzel in the area. He turned and had a go but saw it blocked. Doncaster couldn’t clear that and good play for George McEachran released Udoka Godwin-Malife on the right and he put in an inviting cross, but nobody could get on the end of it.

A few minutes later, Godwin-Malife again showed Jack Senior a clean pair of heels on the right side of the box. He again put the ball in the perfect cross and Aaron Drinan dived in, but his toe managed to hook the ball over the bar.

Rovers gave Swindon a reminder not to get ahead of themselves as Adelakun had space to race away on the left, he drove into the area, cut onto his right foot but blazed over the top.

Swindon’s right-back continued with his first half rampage as after a drop ball he was released again, McGurk drew the defenders towards their goal creating a cutback for Drinan, whose low shot forced a save from Thimothee Lo-Tutala.

Brewitt was again at fault as Doncaster doubled their lead just 26 minutes in as his defender landed at the feet of George Broadbent on the edge of the area. He spread the ball out to Adelakun, and he dispatched his finish beyond Bycroft.

A raft of boos rung around the County Ground as the ball hit the net for the second time and in the minutes that followed there were attempts from small pockets of the stadium to voice their anger. However, much like the team they were being directed at, they were lacking cohesion.

In the 34th minute, Aguiar sent in a lovely free-kick from wide on the right for Drinan to attack. His header deflected back into the path of Glatzel, who got a shot off but it was blocked by the crowd of bodies.

Late in the opening 45, Godwin-Malife made another great run up the right and found Drinan on the edge of the box. He tried to tee up McGurk but got it wrong and gave possession away. A moment that summed up a half that all those around Swindon would do their best to forget.

The sound of the booing was much louder as the Town players trudged off the pitch at half time trying not to look in any one direction for too long.

With those boos ringing in their ears, Town halved the deficit within a minute of the restart as Conor McCarthy’s looping cross was met by the head of Glatzel and his bullet header flew into the back of the net. The German youth international had his first County Ground goal.

The momentum shifted from here and Swindon came so close yet so far as Drinan took the ball down well in the area and found Glatzel in front of goal, but he couldn’t find a route through a crowd of bodies.

Aguiar was especially growing in stature and he made a great interception in the final third before whipping a ball to the far post, where a defender had to frantically flick it beyond Rushian Hepburn-Murphy.

From the resulting corner, Hepburn-Murphy got highest and Lo-Tutala had to claw the ball off the line.

Town were still open on the counter and Biamou got away down the side and put the ball on a plate for Luke Molyneux, but he missed the target with his one-on-one.

The visitors were backs to the wall as the game crept towards a close, but Swindon were never able to find a path to an equalising goal.

STFC starting XI: Bycroft, Blake-Tracy, McEachran, Glatzel, Brewitt, McGurk, Devoy, Godwin-Malife, Drinan, McCarthy, Aguiar.

STFC substitutes: Brann, Elbouzedi, Hepburn-Murphy, Cain, Kokolo, Brann, Austin, McGregor.

DRFC starting XI: Lo-Tutala, Sterry, Anderson, Wood, Molyneux, Broadbent, Biggins, Bailey, Senior, Biamou, Adelakun.

DRFC substitutes: Jones, Olowu, Rowe, Nixon, Hurst, McGrath, Waters.

Attendance: 7,419 (350 away).