SIMON Ferry’s goal against Hartlepool came as a result of some pretty detailed training ground preparation, Swindon Town manager Paolo Di Canio has revealed.

The Scot struck in the 15th minute to fire Town ahead, after a flowing move from back to front saw Nathan Thompson, Andy Williams and Gary Roberts all play their part.

Di Canio explained after the 1-1 draw at the County Ground that he and his players had practiced a strategy to take advantage of the ageing legs of Pools midfielder Ritchie Humphreys, and he was delighted that their meticulous planning paid dividends.

“It came from something that we prepared yesterday because we knew that in this side they are weak especially because they play with an old player in midfield – the third one that played with me at Sheffield Wednesday,” he said. “He’s good, he played well during the game but in there he can’t cover all the space and always drops so there was a big space we could exploit.

“With Simon’s run he’s got the intelligence and we went through and scored the goal in the way we prepared yesterday and two days ago. The lads were good in this but after that they should have done much better things.”

Di Canio stressed that his players may well come to regret the fact they failed to take the chance they were handed to go top of League One, after Tranmere and Doncaster both lost at the weekend.

However, he said if circumstances behind the scenes at the club had been different this season Town would be running away with the title.

“It is another game where we will have regret and disappointment,” he said. “If I think about what has happened in seven or eight months it is absolutely incredible. Many energies have gone, there aren’t many chances to have a rotation.

“I wanted to win this game, it was difficult for me. This is why this club will probably, at the end of the season, have the most regrets ever in this football club’s history. In a normal environment we would probably stay 10 points above everybody.

“There is not a confirmation because you can’t prove this but, in the way we do things and how close we are given what’s happened, we would for sure be in a better place – if not 10 then seven points clear.

“It happened last year. It’s not a coincidence that January and February we flew out again and did an amazing job in terms of results and points.”