CAN it get any worse for Crewe as the FA Cup proved no distraction at all from their sorry league form?

Dumped out of the tournament in comprehensive fashion by League Two opposition it looks like being a long, hard winter.

To be fair Swindon's form is the polar opposite of the Alex's and with an impressive away record to boot the Robins looked a confident side, used to winning.

Crewe have forgotten how to and Dave Artell knows that if the sorry sequence continues League One survival will be beyond them. At least they have that to focus on discounting progress in the Papa John's Trophy that could go as cold as a slice of stale pizza without most supporters caring.

They will be demanding Artell's players show endeavour and spirit now in the league as that is lacking at key moments in games. But they will question too whether tactics and formations are the right ones for the occasion without, of course, knowing the inner workings of the training ground and dressing room.

A three-at-the-back system which saw Donervon Daniels drafted in to play at right wing-back while attacking options such as Oli Finney and J'Neil Bennett were benched had a hint of a lack of adventure about it to take on lower league opponents.

Madger Gomes also replaced Scott Robertson in the middle, while Kashket was pushed up alongside Chris Porter with Chris Long ruled out through injury.

Any thrust that was on offer in the opening half an hour all came from Swindon. Former Alex loanee Harry McKirdy nearly made it count when he was slipped clear in the box, but Dave Richards was off his line to snuff out the danger.

Yet the Alex keeper could do nothing about Louis Reed's thunderous 20-yard strike which crashed into the top corner to give the Robins a 25th-minute lead.

Luke Murphy went close from distance, but that was all Crewe could offer in the first 45.

Bennett was on at the start of the second half for Daniels and the system change almost put Swindon on the back foot.

But when McKirdy showed awareness to hold the ball up and wait for Tyreece Simpson's run the damage was done again in the 52nd minute. The teenage on-loan Ipswich striker bounded clear and finished with aplomb in the far corner.

Swindon had the two-goal cushion and they could afford not to worry about Ellis Iandolo's far-post finish that was chalked off for offside and Simpson spurning a juicy one-v-one with Richards.

They still had something in the locker to seal a comfortable win with set-piece expert Reed blasting a low free kick past everyone from 20 yards with 11 minutes left.

Scott Kashket finally troubled keeper Jojo Wollocatt in the dying minutes, but many of the Alex faithful had already headed for the exits.

Survival in League One is all that matters now. But performances will have to improve radically in the coming weeks otherwise it won't just be the FA Cup that will be going down the swanee.

Artell said: "We've got to make sure we're harder to beat and if that makes it not very pretty then so be it. We can't carry on getting beat.

"There's one or two lads who are letting themselves down and this football club too.

"It is difficult when you play with nine men. We've got to make sure that we have 11-and-a-half and 12 men out there on the pitch. We've got to make sure the lads that go out there care.

"They might not give a monkey's about me, but they should give a monkey's about their careers and this club."

On the way Crewe set up (three at back), their manager explained: "It was to try and gain more control as opposed to being negative. We knew they would come and press us, so if they committed more men to us we could hurt them more. Did that work out? No it didn't.

"It's difficult when you tell them to go out there and do certain things and they do something different."

It was Swindon's first FA Cup success against Football League opposition since the days of Paolo Di Canio back in 2012 and boss Ben Garner said: "I didn't expect that as Crewe have got good quality in their squad, but we played ever so well.

"It was pretty comfortable in the end, in fact we could have had a couple more.

"Defensively we looked good. Crewe changed shape in the second half; we hadn't been sure whether they would play a back three or back four. They changed [from back three] at half-time and we adjusted really well.

"We'd worked on both scenarios in the week and credit to the players. I thought our counter attacking was good and we created a number of good opportunities to score goals."

Crewe: Richards; Daniels (Bennett), Sass-Davies, Offord, Thomas (Lundstram), Adebisi; Lowery, Murphy (Finney), Gomes (Robertson); Porter (Mandron), Kashket.

Subs: Ward, Lyden, Parsons, Dabre

Attendance: 2,303