ROVERS were left with two reasons to be thankful after this horror show.
The first was that manager Rod Brown wasn't here to witness the most calamitous of away days, which left the Greens' promising record on their travels in ruins.
The other was that their abject display only managed to share centre stage with the performance of referee Alison Chapman and her assistants.
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Let's get one thing straight - Rovers did not lose because of the dreadful officiating.
They had already masterminded their own downfall with sloppy marking and their inability to retain possession.
But needless to say outspoken former Luton Town manager Mike Newell might have had a thing or two to say had he been watching this one.
Chapman's ill-judged decisions to award a 47th minute penalty, inexplicably booking debutant Scott Rickards and midfielder Paul Lloyd after Rickards had been fouled from behind, and later sending off the Rovers new boy for a dubious second booking compounded what was already a disastrous trip to Wiltshire.
However, no amount of controversy will hide the facts - Rovers were truly abysmal.
They gave Swindon Supermarine a passage into the game after just eight minutes, poor marking allowing Ash Edenborough to meet Justin McKay's free kick and head beyond Chris Taylor.
The early goal rattled the Greens. Up front they struggled for ideas, and in defence they had no answer to Supermarine's pressure.
But Rovers again obliged to let the home side in when the outstretched Mark Draycott gambled inside the box, sticking a leg out to turn in Ludovic Quistan's powerful left-footed cross shot.
It was effectively game over on the stroke of half time when referee Chapman pointed to the spot for the first time.
On this occasion it was just, with Chris McHale needlessly tripping Edenborough, who appeared to be going nowhere, and Danny Allen stepped up and gave the home side a 3-0 half time cushion.
If that wasn't infuriating enough for the travelling Greens supporters, the second half saw any hopes of a courageous fightback dashed by the first of several dubious decisions.
Edenborough went down all too easily in the Rovers box, and Chapman again pointed to the spot, adjudging Lucan Spittle to have dragged down the Swindon forward.
Allen again converted, and any purpose and organisation that may have been salvaged in player-coach John Snape's half-time team talk had been immediately erased.
Sadly, as the second half went on the Rovers players failed to rise above frustration and played into their opponents' hands.
Swindon were wise to these frustrations and the Greens accepted the bait.
Rickards - Rovers' most promising outlet in the early stages - was the victim of a reckless lunge from Quistan and had to receive treatment, but bizarrely it was he and teammate Lloyd who received cautions for their protests, with the Supermarine winger going unpunished for his challenge from behind.
The incident leading to the former Redditch United and Kidderminster Harriers forward's second booking was all the more dubious. Chapman was called over by the linesman following an offside decision and Rickards was given his marching orders for apparent dissent.
It capped the most dismal day since Rovers arrived back in the British Gas Business Premier Division.
They may have escaped Brown's version of the hairdryer, and after the incidents that tarnished the second half there may even have been a case for feeling a tad hard done by.
But after following up an impressive win at Clevedon with such a rudderless display of football, it felt like a case of one step forward and another step back for Rovers.
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