Swindon Town First-Team Head Coach, Scott Lindsey, has praised his players mentality as his side started their pre-season warm-up campaign with a 3-2 victory over Southern League Division One South outfit Melksham Town on Saturday.
The recently-appointed boss opted to field an unfamiliar line-up at the Oakfield Stadium in order to take a look at a number of trialists and get some minutes in the legs of some of his fringe players, and admitted he was pleased with the attitude shown by everyone.
Two of Town’s three goals on the day were scored by trialists looking to impress, coming either side of a long-range Ricky Aguiar strike, with the 21-year-old named as captain for the day.
Lindsey admitted that although the game had come slightly earlier than he’d hoped in his pre-season preparations, he was delighted with the work ethic and professionalism shown by all his players, and that claiming the victory was important as he looks to build that winning mentality throughout his squad.
“For me it was important we used this game to take a look a players that have been training with us over the past week on trial, and give some of our younger first team players a run out – it wasn’t a case of getting bogged down in tactics and formations,” Lindsey said.
“It was a great exercise to assess some new faces against a really competitive side and I thought the players attitudes were fantastic. We had a real mix in the squad and to get the victory was great too as a real focus for me is installing a winning mindset.
“This was a really good chance to look at our trialists who have all worked really hard over the past seven days, and nothing really compares to watching them in a game situation in order to get a more detailed assessment, so I took a lot from the match.”
With the majority of his key first-team players having only completed a few days of full training since returning from their short breaks, and Welsh midfielder Jonny Williams having only come back from international duty and some downtime himself in the last 24-hours, Lindsey conceded this game had just come a little too early to feature some more familiar faces.
“We had to be really careful who we picked for the game. The lads have trained really well over the past week or so but we have to be mindful of their load and ensure we don’t throw them into competitive games too early,” he commented.
“Harry (McKirdy) has only completed a few full days, as have the majority of our new signings, while Jonny (Williams) has only just returned back to the club after his exploits, so another week of full training will enable us to assess them further and prepare the lads for the upcoming warm-up games.
“No doubt we’ll have a few more big names in the side for the Supermarine match in a weeks’ time, all being well.”
There was also praise from Lindsey for stopper Sol Brynn, who completed 90-minutes in Saturday’s game, his first appearance in a Swindon jersey since completing his loan move from Championship side Middlesbrough.
“I thought Sol was really good today. He commanded his area brilliantly and was a great presence in the box – claiming everything in the air.
“We debated whether we good give Sol and Lewis (Ward) a half each in the game, but opted for Sol just to get him some minutes on the pitch, which will also enable us to mix things up over the coming friendlies, but I really enjoyed watching him play.”
