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Swindon Town's Luke Williams defends Anton Rodgers' display against Chesterfield

Head coach Luke Williams was a staunch defender of Anton Rodgers following Swindon's defeat to Chesterfield on Saturday after the midfielder was subject to some hostile fan treatment.

The 24-year-old, who has never been a favourite among the County Ground fanbase, was given the nod in the middle of the park ahead of the likes of Conor Thomas, Johnny Goddard and Jesse Starkey after Chelsea loanee Charlie Colkett was ruled out due to injury and Yaser Kasim continued to nurse an ankle problem.

Rodgers was greeted with groans and jeers for misplaced passes early on and throughout before a loud ironic cheer went up when he was substituted for Thomas in the 82nd minute.

His head coach fought his corner in the post-match press briefing though and was visibly frustrated at the reception Rodgers was on the end of.

"I think Anton did fine. The fans already, of course, made their opinion before the kick off - they gave him no chance at all," Williams said.

"That happens because maybe (in) one too many performances Anton gave the fans something to jeer about and sometimes it's hard to change that.

"I think he did fine. He tried to make the more telling passes and he ran around hard for us and put the miles in.

"We know that's not the outstanding side of his game, we've got balance there with Rohan (Ince), but he tried and put his body on the line and made tackles when he could and jumped for headers when he could so he's frustrated because we couldn't win."

Swindon are next in action on Saturday when they travel to Staffordshire to play Port Vale in what is their last in a spate of relegation face-offs they have had in recent weeks.

It is not yet clear if Colkett will be fit again by then as he is still getting monitored by the medical team.

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