Town endured a difficult afternoon as a pair of goals either side of the half saw them fall to a 4-1 defeat to Swindon Town.
Aston Villa loanee Louie Barry struck in the opening 45 minutes with Josh Davison grabbing himself a brace after the break before Luke Armstrong hit a let consolation goal.
Town also suffered further injury woes losing both Alex Pattison and Ryan Fallowfield to injury.
There were changes to the Town line-up with Joe Cracknell, Jack Muldoon and Mark Beck replacing Mark Oxley, Lloyd Kerry and Calum Kavanagh. There were also places on the bench for Academy prospects Harvey Giles, Emmanuel Ilesanmi and Finn O’Boyle
For the visitors Ben Garner made just one change to the side that fell to a late 1-0 defeat at the hands of Newport County last time out with Mandela Egbo coming in for Jonny Williams.
There was a quiet start to proceedings, with Swindon happy to play out from the back and establish possession.
In fact, the most notable action in the opening ten minutes was when a Mandela Egbo cross was cleared onto Wetherby Toad and juggled on the top of a passing lorry.
The visitors began to take a foothold of the game though, pushing Town on the back foot and Jack Payne cut in on his left foot and fired an effort that deflected narrowly past Cracknell’s right-hand post.
Town worked a smart move in response which saw a deep cross fall to Alex Pattison but his snap shot was dragged well wide.
A quickly taken George Thomson free-kick found Mark Beck in a dangerous position but the Town striker failed to get enough contact on his header to test Jojo Wollacott in the visitors goal.
Mndela Egbo was becoming increasingly involved in the game from a Swindon perspective and he found some space on the right hand side to hang a cross to the far post for Barry to head past Cracknell to give the Robins a deserved lead.
Town responded with a trademark surging run from Pattison that found its way to Luke Armstrong but his effort was grabbed at the second attempt by Wollacott.
Swindon doubled their lead on the half-hour mark though when Egbo was again afforded too much space and his low cross picked up Barry again at the far post for the on-loan teenager to crash home.
And it was almost 3-0 moments before half-time when an unmarked Josh Davison connected with Tomlinson’s cross but his effort fell wide by a matter of inches.
Simon Weaver made a change at the break by bringing on Josh Austerfield for Pattison.
Town began brightly after the break, threatening out wide with Jack Diamond, but the visitors extended their advantage in the 51st minutes when they profited from a Ryan Fallowfield injury in the build-up to a move that saw Tomlinson comfortably slot home from ten yards.
Town’s full-back was immediately replaced by Rory McArdle. Swindon were themselves forced to make a switch shortly after when Egbo’s afternoon was curtailed through injury with the impressive midfielder replaced by Jonny Wiliams.
The visitors fourth was added moments later when Payne’s through ball beat the Town back line to allow Davison to slide home beyond Cracknell.
The goal signalled the end of Tomlinson’s afternoon as the left-side player was replaced by Ben Gladwin. Town themselves mad a further change at this time when Beck was replaced by Simon Power.
Town were determined to show some fight over the final stages of the game and the impetus of Power on the right-hand side saw him set up George Thomson for a long range effort but although well struck the ball was a little too high to trouble Wollacott.
The visitors made their final change of the afternoon when double-scorer Barry was replaced by Harry Parsons.
Full-back Ellis Iandolo rattled the Town bar with Cracknell well beaten on 81 minutes as the visitors sensed the opportunity for further goals.
Town did get s reward deep into injury time though when Armstrongpounced ona rebound from Power’s shot to hit home.
The defeat saw Town slip to 18th in the table whilst the win for the Robins – their first in four outings – saw them move to within a point of the playoff positions.
TOWN: Cracknell, Fallowfield (McArdle, 55), Burrell, Smith, Sheron, Thomson, Pattison (Austerfield, 45), Diamond, Muldoon, Armstrong, Beck (Power, 67).
Subs not used: Giles, O’Boyle, Ilesanmi.
Goals: Armstrong (90+4).
Booked: Austerfield (88).
Swindon Town: Wollacott, Iandolo, Conroy, Baudry, Davison, Payne, Egbo (Williams, 61), Barry (Parsons, 75), Tomlinson (Gladwin, 67), Hunt, Reed, Barry, Tomlinson, Hunt, Reed.
Subs not used: Ward, Odimayo, O’Brien, Auguiar.
Goals: Barry (24, 29), Tomlinson (51, 63).
Referee: Scott Oldham.
Attendance: 2,933.
