The enigmatic Italian saw his side demolished 4-1 at Deepdale by a rampant Preston North End, as the home side turned in a performance which the home support in a crowd of 10300 hadn't seen for years.
North End took the lead in 5 minutes, when Beavon charged down a clearance from visitors keeper Foderingham, the ball landed at the feet of Sodje who took his aim, fired and scored. (1-0)
Almost immediately Di Canio had his substitute keeper Bedwell warming up on the touchline.
Swindon came back into the game passing the ball neatly but apart from a Collins header rarely troubled the home side.
The second goal wasn't long in coming and a fine team goal it was, the ball was passed along the penalty area to Laird who's pin point pass found Wroe ghosting in to side foot the ball past the keeper. (2-0)
Following some more haphazard defending Di Canio made a tactical change, not one most managers would have done, he substituted his keeper. To say Foderingham was less than amused was an understatement, storming past his manager he headed straight to the dressing room only stopping to violently boot an energy drinks bottle into the middle of the pitch.
Swindon tried desperately to get back into the game but just before half time they were further behind, when a corner was headed into the six yard box by Huntington and new signing Beavon bundled the ball home from close range. (3-0)
Standing ovation for the home side, would have loved to be a fly on the wall in the visitors dressing room.
Swindon started brightly in the second half with Bostock another substitute having a shot deflected onto the top of the bar, understandably North End started sluggishly and were made to pay when Da Vita cut in from the left hand side beat Keane with ease and fired past Stuckmann to reduce the arrears.
Sodje had a glorious chance to finish the game when a super left wing cross found him unmarked 10 yards out, his header missed the target by a distance, but it wasn't long until the home side further increased their lead when a corner fell to Welsh 20 yards out and his drive went through a sea of legs into the corner of the net. (4-1)
The game died as a spectacle from then but Stuckmann made a superb save to keep the score at 4-1 almost immediately after the fourth goal.
A fine performance to mark Preston's Guild year which happens every 20 years hopefully we won't have to wait that long for another performance like that.
Preston North End 4 Swindon Town 1 Att 10320
North End's new signing Stuart Beavon
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