A woeful encounter at Kenilworth Road saw Luton slip to a bitterly disappointing defeat at the hands of Swindon Town.

Christian Roberts' strike on 52 minutes gave the Wiltshire Club all three points, as Luton struggled to find any inspiration in front of goal.

It leaves the Hatters with a mountain to climb in their bid to beat relegation this season as the gap widens between them and the remanding sides in the bottom half.

Luton rarely looked capable of finding the back of net and despite Drew Talbot having a goal ruled out for offside, the Hatters struggled desperately to match their hard-working opponents.

The Hatters went into the match making just one change from the side that drew with Leeds United at the weekend.

David Bell, who had missed the last two Luton games through injury, returned at the expense of Steve Robinson, who failed to make the 16-man squad.

Meanwhile, boss Mick Harford kept faith with his three-man attack that proved effective against Leeds with Paul Furlong, Calvin Andrew and Drew Talbot all keeping their place in the side.

Sam Parkin, a former Swindon favourite, remained amongst the substitutes despite his last equaliser against Leeds United.

Swindon made three changes from the team that drew 0-0 with Crewe on Saturday.

Roberts and Barry Corr returned to the side whilst Patrick Kanyuka was handed his Swindon debut. Leading scorer Billy Paynter was ruled out through suspension.

Swindon went into the game on an unbeaten run of ten league games and they certainly looked like a team that were high on confidence as they made a blistering start.

There was almost an embarrassing moment for Dean Brill in just the third minute of the game when Hasney Aljofree tried an ambitious effort from 35-yards. The shot caught Brill off guard as he scrambled across his line to prevent the ball from creeping inside his far post to eventual make a comfortable save.

A minute later and a well delivered free-kick from Roberts to the near post saw Lee Peacock out jump the Hatters defence to flick on a header that narrowly went the wrong side of Brill's goal.

Harford's team soon got into their stride and Bell, playing in an unfamiliar central midfield role, quickly began to terrorise the Swindon defence.

On 11 minutes the former Rushden midfielder displayed quickness and strengthen to brush aside the challenge of two Swindon defenders to blast a shot from the edge of the area that had Robins shot-stopper Peter Brezovan scampering across his goal.

Luton thought they had taken the lead two minutes later when Talbot put the ball in the net. However the linesman ruled that the former Sheffield Wednesday striker was offside after Bell superbly cut inside from the left to force Brezovan into a flying save that he could only parry into the path of Talbot.

The game was soon evenly matched, but Swindon should have broken the deadlock on 22 minutes, had Moses Ashikodi not been guilty of an incredible miss from just eight yards out.

The Robins striker spun away from Keith Keane to create space from himself inside the Luton area, but instead of forcing Brill into a save, he somehow managed to find row Z of the Kenilworth Road stand when it seemed easier to score.

Luton's defence had been put under some serious pressure and at time their inexperience was beginning to shine through.

On 31 minutes, Corr should have made Luton pay when a sloppy pass from Chris Perry wasn't punished as the Hatters were let off the hook by some woeful finishing from the visitors in front of goal.

Luton's struggle to string two passes together saw Hatters supporters vent their frustrations as the half began to come to a close and although there were only a handful of boos at the half-time whistle, it was far from pretty from the home side.

AT HALF TIME: LUTON 0 V 0 SWINDON

Luton introduced Dean Morgan and Parkin at the start of the second half in a bid to change their fortunes in front of goal.

Although they were far from awful, Luton hadn't been at their best as had mainly been pinned back in their own half during the opening 45 minutes.

The Hatters started the second half encouragingly, but suffered a setback on 51 minutes when the visitors took advantage of some more sloppy Luton defending.

Jon Paul-McGovern's long ball forward found Roberts out on the right and the former Bristol City striker was able to waltz past a soft challenge from Alan Goodall before cutting inside Chris Perry to smash an unstoppable shot from ten-yards past the helpless dive from Brill.

Luton continued to struggle as Swindon dominated the midfield battle as they continued to see more of the ball.

Chances were few and far between as a combination of poor football from both sides and the referee's whistle spoiled the game.

The second half from Luton's point of view was summed up on 75 minutes through their best effort of the game arrival when Furlong picked up a lay-off from Parkin to woefully fire wide leaving Brezovan untroubled.

Luton battled hard, but despite seven minutes of stoppage time remaining, the home side never looked capable of making the breakthrough.

AT FULL TIME: LUTON 0 V 1 SWINDON

Luton: Brill, Goodall, Perry, Bell, Currie (Morgan 46), Jackson, Talbot (O'Leary 64), Andrew (Parkin 46), Keane, Spring, Furlong,

Subs not used: Hutchison, Beresford

Bookings:

Swindon: Brezovan, Vincent, Peacock, Roberts, Corr, McGovern, Comminges, Aljofree (Nicholas 82), Kanyuka, McNamee (Zaaboub 63), Ashikodi (Sturrock 75),

Subs not used: Smith, Pook

Bookings: Sturrock (84)

Referee: Mr C Boyeson

Attendance: 5,738 (325 from Swindon)