Swindon Town should be pleased that they were able to go toe-to-toe with Milton Keynes Dons, but there are still questions about their attacking effectiveness.
For 13 minutes, it looked like Swindon were about to be the latest victims of the vicious MK Dons attack. The team in black and white had the dream scenario for Marty from Madagascar: wide open spaces to roam as they pleased. They drew Town on, passed out wide, and then found the fearsome duo of Sam Nombe and Aaron Collins in space. Two goals could very easily have been four or five.
For the sanity of the 900-plus fans who had travelled to be in the away end, it did not stay that way. Swindon worked out their distances, found the weak spot in the Milton Keynes defence, and fought their way back into the game.
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The runs of Joel McGregor down the right created enough doubt in the minds of the League One team to see them retreat. Suddenly, Swindon were less worried about leaving players back, and the bodies got into the box to create the Aaron Drinan goal. Right before the break, it became a cup tie and not a procession.
The second half was full of determination. Swindon stepped up further, controlled the ball, and tried to find the gaps – which generally looked like chipped balls into Drinan. There was huffing, there was puffing, but it never felt like the house was about to come down.
For all their good play, Swindon had five shots and four on target. Not to get too Trevor Brooking, but have they been creative enough and positive enough?
This is an issue that goes beyond just this game, but a point about the season as a whole. Town are a dynamic counter-attacking side; their best attacker has been space. When Drinan can hare away from his marker, few can defend him; when Mitch Clark or Dan Butler catch the defenders on the hop, their crosses are deadly. But against a defence that is in their shape? Not so much.
Swindon have only won one game this season when they have had more possession, and that came against nine-man Rotherham United. Even then, they only managed four shots on target, and took half of their shots from outside the box.
MK Dons claimed the lion’s share of the ball on Saturday, but in the second half, Town had more of it, and Craig MacGillivray’s shirt was just as luminous at the end as it was at the start. Only once did Drinan have a half-clear sight of goal.
In the three matches before Rotherham, when Swindon had more of the ball, they scored just one goal. When they had the same amount of the ball as Northampton Town, nobody found the net then, either.
This team remains a work in progress. They found what they were really good at against Walsall, Barnet, and Bristol Rovers, all games when they sacrificed the ball and had countless opportunities to score anyway. What happens when the onus is on them to make things happen is the question that needs answering.
In Joe Snowdon and Matty Virtue, Swindon have players who like finding space where it doesn’t exist. Jaylan Pearman had a promising cameo where his desire to get between midfield and defence and shoot whenever he can see the goal finally came to the fore.
Ian Holloway is still putting the pieces of this team that are left in the box together, and so the picture on the puzzle is not yet clear. But if teams know they can sit in and frustrate Swindon, then the need to find an answer will continue to grow.
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