PAOLO Di Canio will happily employ a Christmas-tree formation again at Swindon Town, after his tactical masterstroke helped inspire a late comeback against Coventry.

Swindon were struggling to find a route back into the game until Di Canio swapped Matt Ritchie for Alan Navarro with half-an-hour remaining at the County Ground, moving Gary Roberts and Adam Rooney to support James Collins up front and switching to a three-man midfield of Simon Ferry, Navarro and Tommy Miller.

Quickly the change paid dividends, as Coventry could not reorganise themselves accordingly, and Town went close to winning the game late on.

After seeing its immediate worth, Di Canio revealed after the game that he will keep that strategy as a viable option for the future.

“We played much better in the second half and I invented the moment to light a little fire and changed the system,” he said.

“You have Ritchie that hasn’t delivered one ball in the last two or three games, not only because Nathan (Thompson) didn’t help him but because it’s all legs and no brain.

“It’s the moment, it can happen to anyone; even top the top player in the world.

“(Paul) Benson didn’t put in the fire since the beginning and I couldn’t imagine that for the rest of the 35 minutes he would have a chance. “Gary Roberts tried to come inside more often to try to get involved in the game and I thought we could put two strikers that can run in the space and Gary Roberts and push with the two full-backs and give them more responsibility.

“We did very well. We had three midfield players with intelligence, with quality and who run. “I spoke to Alan during the warm-up and Jay (McEveley) when there was the accident, told them how to run and receive the ball, and it paid off.

“I’m very happy, it’s something that we can look at for the future with the technical quality on the field.

“I have three or four versatile players that I can use in this way.”