Swindon Town player ratings and summary

PLAYER RATINGS:
Turnbull 6: the positives were the penalty save and the outstanding one to tip Williams’ shot round the post, but the negatives were the quality of his kicking (he really had to aim for Waring, but quite often didn’t reach him) and the misfortune over Swindon’s second, as we were in with a bit of a chance of getting an equaliser
Cranie 5: as we were playing four at the back and five in midfield, it was hard to understand why we were not closing down Swindon’s left-sided attackers, especially Tofollo, the winger. Cranie was getting done for pace more than once and will reflect on his allowing Swift to do him along the goal-line for their first goal. Maybe he was carrying an injury, which might explain some of that. I was just wishing that we had had Holgate on the bench.
M’Voto 6: positives were his highly resolute characteristic performance and his winning headers almost all the time. His distribution was generally good – when he hoofed it, it went miles and, when he tapped it, it usually went to a red shirt. He worries me only when he thinks he is a crafty midfielder and tries the close skills. I like this player, though, as he is out of the stable of Barnsley of old and always puts himself about. Good game for me.
Ramage 6: generally marshalled things well and was unfortunate with the header which flew wide. Good tackles and headers and most of his passes out of defence found a red shirt.
Nyatanga 6: solid enough and was not caught for pace, which is saying something with Nathan Byrne coming at him. We actually kept Byrne under control in this game and Lewin must take credit for that, along with George Smith, who may have been played wide left with that purpose in mind.
Digby 5: did his bit in the first half in front of the back four, but was no one’s idea of a dominant figure. On the other hand, our back four were only under real pressure on a few occasions, so his role worked most of the time. Passing was ok.
Lalkovic 6: had our only first half shot on target. Looked lively, but wasn’t able often to get into situations in which he could beat the full-back. Covered a lot of ground and did his bit tackling back when needed, which was quite a lot down our right.
Pearson 6: put himself about a good deal and flew into tackles, sometimes coming out with the ball. I am not sure that this was his best position, as he seems made for the role of defensive, or holding midfielder, but that seemed today to be mainly Digby’s role. You could say that the three of Digby, Pearson and Scowen all had the defensive midfield role by the way we set up. He is probably good enough to play the role on his own. It was noticeable that he was one of the players detailed to get forwards when we were attacking and he did have that one chance right after half time. I like his style and there is no doubt that it matches where our need has been greatest. I hope he signs for the rest of the season. On the down-side, his role-model must have been Roy Keane, as his style is similar and so is his relationship with referees. He got a shellacking from the man in black after being highly vocal in his criticism of one decision and I was surprised that he was not booked for it. It is daft really, because controlling your behaviour to refs is one way a player CAN avoid getting a booking.
Scowen 7: a very good game by young Josh, who put himself about all over the pitch and looks destined to become a legend if he develops as he is. Constantly on the move; always willing to put in a tackle and a follow-up tackle; good vision with his head up when he has the ball; good and perceptive passing game. Were it not for young George, he would have been my man-of-the-match. In style, he reminds me something of Archie Gemmill of Derby, Notts Forest, Birmingham City and Scotland.
Smith 6: did his bit in keeping Nathan Byrne quiet and found useful space wide left in the first half. We played a good number of diagonal cross-field balls towards him, so that was obviously part of the game plan and a way we sought to catch Swindon on the break. He did remarkably well when switched to right back second half in place of Cranie. Not over-awed and played his part.
Waring 8: to play as the single target-man away to a team in the top three is a big ask, but young George should look back on the match with a good degree of pride. He won a very high percentage balls in the air against two biggish central defenders. He trapped the ball well with chest and thigh. He laid it off well, often linking our midfield into play. For a big guy, that is a good performance and he was my man-of-the-match. One looping header near the end will not get much attention, as it was in stoppage time and the game was lost by then, but it fell only a little wide of the post. He deserved it to have dropped in.
Subs:
Hourihane 6: managed to speed things up when he came and I do believe that I actually did see him (legally) shoulder-charge a Swindon player off the ball. Could not pick out a goal, or an assist this time, but did ok in his 45 minutes.
Jennings 5: added something when he came on in terms of energy, but, in truth, was well-patrolled by the Swindon defence, who stopped him, often with two players on him, from turning, or getting the chance to run at them.
Kiwomya 5: I was presuming that the last change would be Winnall and that would have been great, but it is rumoured that he was injured in the warm-up – hope he will be ok next match. Kiwomya’s main asset would be his pace, as well as whatever he wanted to show his fellow Chelsea loanee, John Swift. In truth, he did not manage to skin the Swindon left flank in this game and was kept wide and out of bringing too much influence to the game.
SUMMARY
This was a far better performance than the last one I had the misfortune to witness at Walsall. Our defensive set-up worked pretty well, apart from the lapse which let in John Swift. We had a real good go in the second half and, if the main incidents in the last fifteen minutes had gone our way, rather than Swindon’s, we could have had a point from one of the best sides in the division. We must, though, credit Swindon. Their victory was won on sharp, one-touch, incisive passing, along with imaginative running off the ball, especially from midfielders coming through and it was won on a high-energy pressing game, which meant that we were under pressure to get our own passing game going. I think that, on balance, you would say they deserved the win, but we did give them a game and could have taken something from it. We will do far better against less slick teams that this and should be safely there at the end. If we can get Winnall fit, we might make the play-offs, but that is based on at least one good run of wins and few losses between now and May.
Keep the faith.

 

Thank you for that.

Do you go to the away games?

Is there room for optimism?

 

Sounds like we were a bit better than previous away defeats . Can't sit back and defend for 90 mins and expect anything though

 

Just got back, good report, agree with most of your observations. However all 4 in our group are sure it was Digby that got skinned for first goal!

 

Sure it said digby got sidestepped for 1 St goal on radio dee dar

 

A little over generous IMO I wouldn't have given anyone above a six. Fairly disappointing day even given recent away setbacks.

 

As I now live in the South Midlands, I go to games within a reasonable distance of home. My next away game should be Bristol City. Straight down the M5. There is room for optimism, especially as the new signings of Scowen and Waring seem to have changed the dynamic and given the team more drive.

 

It was Cranie who did not stop Swift's run along the goal-line. Will be interested to see on the highlights. If I got it wrong, I will blame the varifocals.

 

I'm glad you've posted these, as I've done my own in another thread and it appears we differ somewhat in our opinion of the game and certain players. I felt for Waring as he was isolated on his own, but he never looked remotely like scoring for a striker until that header in stoppage time and I felt his hold up play was generally poor. He struggled to trap the ball and gave it away too often as a result. Pearson and Scowen were busy but went missing when Swindon bombed forward, nowhere near as good as they were against Oldham. Giving Digby a 5 is generous, not only did he give away a penalty but Turnbull pulled off a great save when he'd given the ball away on the edge of Swindon's box instead of pulling the trigger or laying it off for someone else. And on Turnbull, he made 3 one on one saves and saved a penalty. Obviously he was at fault for the second but he prevented 3 or 4 other goals either side of that.

I felt we set out to draw the game, and that Swindon never had to get out of third gear such was our tendency to stand off and admire. Maybe my view is blinkered because I was at MK Dons two weeks ago, Doncaster the week before that, and every other away game this season bar Peterborough and Coventry. But I felt today was as bad as any of our away losses this season.

 

Just watched the highlights and you are right - it was Digby - so I need to change the varifocals. I also saw that he jinked past Smith as well, so we had two chances to clear and stop Swift's run. Should not have conceded that goal.