Swindon Town Head Coach, Scott Lindsey, says he’s pleased with his sides first away point of the new season and admits his side are improving with every game.
Jacob Wakeling’s first goal for the club was cancelled out just moments before the midway point as Kristian Dennis struck for the hosts, but result aside, Lindsey says there are still plenty of positives to take from the match.
“This is a good point on the road. It’s a very difficult place to come. Carlisle are a good side and very organised, and we could have won the game with the chances we had.
“I thought we dominated possession at times throughout the game and we created some really good opportunities, so I’m pleased.
“A lot has been made about the lack of goals, but we’ve still been carving out chances in our first three games despite playing for eighty or so minutes with ten men during that period, so to come here and have opportunities to win the game is encouraging.
“Today showed what we’re about and the attacking threat we can pose. We got in some good areas and caused them problems. I was pleased with the players application and desire.”
Lindsey on switching to four at the back…
“We felt we wanted to be more of an attacking threat rather than defensive minded today. I think at times this season we’ve been guilty of getting too many bodies behind the ball, so we wanted to mix that up.
“We were more aggressive in the full back areas today. We knew if we played this formation the likes of Harry (McKIrdy), Jonny (Williams) and Jacob (Wakeling) would create chances for us.
“Of course I’m disappointed with the goal we conceded. We did lose control of the ball cheaply at times, meaning we had to recover and defend and we didn’t do this well enough at times today, but it’s something we’ll look at in training moving forward.”
Jacob Wakeling’s first Town goal…
“I’m really pleased for Jacob and it’s always nice for a striker to get their first goal.
“We spoke about how we wanted to press the Carlisle backline, with our front three causing issues for their back four, and we highlighted where we could get at them, and Jacob was key to this.
“I thought he worked incredibly hard today and it was great finish from him.”
Heat a factor…
“Of course it was hot out there for the lads, but it was the same for both teams.
“Tomi came on for Jacob as he was looking a little tired, and his energy is a key part of his game, so we felt switching it up was necessary.
“Tyrese also came on to give us some fresh legs and did well. Of course the heat takes it out of you as a player, but I thought they all did well considering.”
In summary…
“I felt the spine of our team was good today, and we’ve got that throughout the squad. I felt Saidou Khan was outstanding today and we were really good down the middle.
“I was pleased with the first half as we dominated in spells and took control of the game at key moments, but we conceded a disappointing goal at a bad time, but we didn’t let it affect us for the second period.
“We know we need to defend more diligently at times, but we spoke about this at the interval and the players took this on board. We looked a little anxious and the tie turned into a basketball match at times.
“We need to take charge of games more I feel and we can be too open in stages, but this is something we’ll continue to work hard on and improve.”
