AN EXASPERATED John Sheridan was left scratching his head after Swindon Town’s 2-0 defeat to Portsmouth on Tuesday resulted in no shots on target all night.

The Town boss revealed afterwards that the players practise shooting every day in training, yet none of their eight shots at goal ultimately tested Craig MacGillivray.

Tuesday night’s underwhelming attacking display was far from an anomaly for Sheridan’s men as Town have hit the target just 15 times in eight games this calendar year, while only one goal has been scored in their previous five outings.

The Swindon boss was pleased to see his players shooting at all, but asked for a little more care in the final third in order to improve on the team’s recent goal-scoring drought.

Sheridan said: “We got into good areas and into good positions against Portsmouth, but we haven’t hit the target. We’ve had shots – Christopher Missilou was very unlucky with his effort that hits the post, but we’ve had shots from good areas.

“Jack Payne had a couple of great efforts, Scott Twine has seen a good effort go just over.

“We do shooting every day of the week in training, and we haven’t hit the target with the couple of good opportunities we got against Portsmouth. We didn’t have many opportunities, but I don’t think they had many opportunities either and they’re a good team.”

Town head to Bristol on Saturday to take on a Rovers side who have only managed 24 goals in 26 games this season – making them the second-lowest goal scorers in League One, four ahead of Northampton Town.

Sheridan admitted he is expecting a tight and nervy affair at the Memorial Stadium, but wants his team to rise to the occasion and grind out the three points if necessary against a team that Town have already beaten 1-0 at the County Ground this season.

Sheridan said: “They’re all massive now, especially against the teams around us. It’s all about results now, we know the importance of winning games and what it can do and where it can take you.

“When we’re playing teams like Bristol Rovers, or other teams in the position we’re in, they’re going to be massive games. I knew Tuesday was going to be a massive game, and I felt the spirit there from the players.

“We could have got back into the game when we hit the post, but when you’re down where we are the luck just doesn’t go your way.”