Swindon Town players rated after Forest Green Rovers win

Two fine goals from Dan Kemp either side of Matt Taylor’s poked finish saw Swindon in the lead in stoppage time, but Ward had to be on call to save Matthew Stevens’ penalty to keep hold of three points.

So, how did the players fare on Friday night?

GK: Lewis Ward – 8

Ward’s rating becomes a strange one as his overall performance was far from great. The increased intensity of Forest Green over Wrexham put on show his limited distribution as even simple ones went awry. But he was there when he was needed and once again saved a penalty from Rovers and preserved the points. That is probably worth four or five points on its own.

Minturn chases after McAllister (Image: Andy Crook)

RCB: Udoka Godwin-Malife – 5

Godwin-Malife is probably the only one of Swindon’s back three who was not the clear loser of their individual duel. The Green Machine rarely threatened down their left but the way they played did prevent Godwin-Malife from his normal galivants forward so he was functional on the ball.

CB: Tom Brewitt – 3

A rough first start back for Brewitt as the pace of Callum Morton and Matthew Stevens got the best of him. He had plenty of sloppy moments on the ball and did not impose himself at all well.

LCB: Harrison Minturn – 3

This was a properly difficult night for Minturn. Things just seemed to spiral after some early errors where he would misplace simple passes and Kyle McAllister had the beating of him consistently.

Hutton puts in a cross (Image: Andy Crook)

RWB: Remeao Hutton – 5

Hutton was not totally shut down as he was against Wrexham but once again struggled to cut through the passive nature of Town’s performance. Aside from a handful of crosses that came to very little, he did not have much to show for his evening.

CM: Saidou Khan – 6

This is going to be entirely about the nutmeg as it warrants further discussion. Khan was frequently drifting out to the left and could go beyond Fankaty Dabo however he liked. His nutmeg was as clean as can be before Khan ran around him with great speed and drove away from him all in one motion. It was a joy and for a long time the only interesting thing that happened in the game. I expect it to be nominated for goal of the season despite not leading to a goal.

CM: Liam Kinsella – 6

Kinsella’s run of consistent performances continues now that he is playing regularly. He adds the bite in midfield that Swindon often lack and that was nice to see. There were a few rough passes and times when he gave the ball away poorly, but he did what he is there to do.

LWB: Tyrese Shade – 7

I think I have been fooled by Shade a few times now, but he is starting to show that he can put together his attributes. All of the berating from Flynn has begun to stick and for the second consecutive match he was consistent in his ability to threaten rather than being in and out of a game.

CAM: Dan Kemp – 9

If this was the end of Kemp at the County Ground then it was nice that he went out with a clear demonstration of how good he is. Once again Town had no chance of winning the game until Kemp rocked up and made things happen. He is quite simply one of the best I have seen in a Swindon shirt.

Kemp lashes home the opener (Image: Andy Crook)

ST: Charlie Austin – 3

It was another game in which Austin was mostly a passenger, 15 touches and two completed passes say a lot about a rough outing in which he rarely got involved. He won a few headers, but he was slow when he was in the danger zone and never connected with his teammates.

ST: Jake Young – 4

Young technically creates the first goal but that was more by luck than by judgement as his ball to Austin fell nicely to Kemp. His decision-making was off a few times as he should have found Kemp in the first half when he tried to play in Austin when the ball was not on.

Subs:

Jake Cain – 5

Cain always seems to find himself involved in the final third at some point during his cameos, this time the ball did not quite fall right. He did not do a whole lot after coming on so he goes straight down the middle.

George McEachran – N/A