Willo Flood had given City a 1 - 0 half time lead. Swindon levelled before Kevin Cooper and Luigi Glombard looked to make the game safe.
But like the first team at Plymouth last week the ey could not hold on and Swindon scored in the 86th and 89th minutes.
Report from Paul Evans
While the first team have deservedly been collecting the plaudits this season for their results and performances, if you look beyond them the situation is nowhere near as good at the club. Our Under 16 Under 18s and reserve teams have not won a competitive game between them yet and, although it is true to say that results aren't all important at this level, these three teams have now played ten league matches between them without tasting victory!
I have quite often heard the view expressed that our reserves learn nothing playing in the sort of league we are in and it is said that we need to be playing in a better standard league to see our younger players fully develop - I have a lot of sympathy for that argument, but it must be said that draws against the second strings of Bristol Rovers, Weymouth and now Swindon hardly support those who argue that we should be playing at a higher standard!
Today a City team which featured Kamara, McKoy, Flood and Cooper in midfield and Glombard and Campbell up front carelessly tossed away a 3-1 lead with five minutes to go to end up drawing 3-3 with a young and enthusiastic Swindon outfit (featuring former City target Andy Monkhouse) who really should have been allowed no way back into the match.
The game was an entertaining enough affair with plenty of goalmouth action and in the early stages the visitors looked the more likely scorers, but City took the lead around the half hour mark when Glombard ran from half way into the penalty area, when his effort was blocked, the ball fell to Kamara who was felled by Wells for an obvious penalty which Willo Flood converted by sending Smith the wrong way.
Shortly after that, Kamara was brought down for what was, if anything, an even more blatant penalty, but, having given us one spot kick, the ref was in no mood to give us another and waved play on.
City were pretty comfortable for the rest of the first half though and went into the break 1-0 up. The early stages of the second half saw City continue to dominate and Campbell hit the upright as a second goal seemed inevitable. However, when a goal did come, it was Swindon who got it when the ball dropped in between Howard and his back four and Jutkiewicz was able to lob over the keeper and head into the empty net for a soft equaliser.
Normal service was resumed after this shock goal with most of the play heading towards the Swindon goal and it was no real surprise when Flood went on a run through the middle to feed Cooper who scored via the crossbar from the edge of the box.
About ten minutes later City increased their lead when Flood sent the speedy Glombard clear down the right and the Frenchman was able to finish calmly.
It seemed like further goals were there for the City and Glombard had to go off with what looked like a minor knock received when he almost made it 4-1. Jamal Easter replaced Glombard and Kyle Bassett came on for Kamara as the game entered it's final few minutes with little sign of the recovery that Swindon were about to stage.
However, all of a sudden the City back four seemed to go AWOL as a ball from the right went across the City goal to Monkhouse who centred for a completley unmarked Swindon sub to score easilly.
Shortly after that Swindon wasted a free kick on the edge of the box and it looked like their chance had gone, but a second needless foul gave the visitors another chance from out on the left hand touchline and the City defence and keeper just froze as Holgate's free kick glided straight into the net for a third sloppy Swindon goal.
That was the end of the scoring and City were left to rue some careless defending and what seemed to be a lack of communication between the keeper and back four.
Although the final result was a disappointment, it would be unfair to ignore some good individual performances - I'm not sure how the first team will cope if we get injuries and suspensions, but Willo Flood confirmed my initial impression that they shouldn't be weakened much if he has to come into the team and, while, the defence as a unit didn't impress too much, I did think Darcy Blake showed a lot of quality while playing at centre back.