Swindon Town First-Team Head Coach, Scott Lindsey, admits his sides loss to Harrogate Town in their League Two curtain-raiser has hurt him and his players, but says this game certainly doesn’t define a season.
The hosts scored three times to claim all three points at The EnviroVent Stadium in a game that could have had a very different outcome with the chances Town created throughout.
An unfortunate penalty miss from midfielder Ben Gladwin could also have turned the tie at 2-0, but Lindsey, despite the result, says the opening day defeat will see his side come back stronger.
“Of course I’m very disappointed and so are my players,” he said
“I thought we created some really good chances in the first half, but there were moments in the game we didn’t defend as well as we know we can and we turned the ball over too many times in the middle of the pitch, but we’ll certainly learn from this.
“This was always going to be a difficult game and we came here feeling confident, but I think we played too many risky passes in the midfield and were too open at times, but we’ll be working hard on this throughout the week to improve.”
Taking the positives…
“In the first-half I thought we had some good moments in the game and was relatively pleased with the performance.
“We created one or two good opportunities, we played on the front foot, had the majority of possession and looked good, but we haven’t taken those positives into the second period.
“Once we got through the initial press from Harrogate we kept working hard up top and the lads never gave up. We were unlucky not to convert a penalty, and at 2-1 the game can turn on it’s head, but we just have to put this down to a bad day at the office.
“I thought Saidou was good when he came on and Ben Gladwin worked hard for us too. Jacob Wakeling made an instant impact and Harry McKirdy worked extremely hard.”
Reflecting on his first league game in charge…
“Of course as a new manager you always want to win your first competitive match in charge of your club, and unfortunately I haven’t been able to do that today, but it’s only our first one and we have a lot of new players in the squad, but we’ll keep working.
“The season certainly isn’t defined by one game and disappointing result like this. We turn our attentions to working really hard in training this week and ensure we prepare well for Salford next weekend.
“We know what we are capable of and know we have to do better. We need to be more aggressive when the opposition attacks, but again, things we will work on over the coming days.”
