PAOLO Di Canio once again lamented his Swindon Town side’s “nice guy” image as they failed to grind out a win against Hartlepool on Saturday.

Simon Ferry’s first-half strike was not enough for the Robins, as Andy Monkhouse levelled for Pools 15 minutes from time to keep Swindon third when they could have leapt to the top of the League One table with a victory.

In his post-match press conference, Di Canio stressed how he needs players who are willing to tough it out in times of need.

“Today we looked like the worst side in terms of desire and determination in some situations during the game.

“That proves that we are not really there, we do not have enough mentality, pedigree and nasty people on the field,” he said.

“There were two great saves but three or four balls were on the goallines and we missed our chance.

“James Collins missed the ball in front of the goal at the end, two or three games rebounded in there and many times in League One I see people react quickly and maybe score a dirty goal.

“We have a percentage of balls that remain close to the six-yard box that are incredible, and we only scored one at the beginning of the season with Tommy Miller.

“That proves that for many reasons what we have done is a miracle.

“We don’t have a natural goalscorer, we don’t score dirty goals with a nasty attitude because we are nice guys.

“People that want to score clean goals, if they miss a chance, they give up.

“What we have done is something special.

“It’s an opportunity that has now run away and we can’t take again.

“Andy Williams, Raffaele De Vita, Gary Roberts – they are not nasty guys. Simon Ferry gives everything but he’s not a nasty guy.

“Tommy Miller is one of the best but he’s not a nasty guy. In this moment maybe you have to play less attractive football, less tippy tappy but go through and win 1-0 in a dirty game.

“We lost a big opportunity to even make a special job.

“Today I am very angry with them but in terms of professionalism I have nothing to say because they are the best professionals I have met in my life.”