SWINDON Town head coach Ben Garner dismissed suggestions he and his team were not brave enough in trying to beat Bristol Rovers following the 1-1 draw at the County Ground on Saturday.

Town were much the better team in the opening half an hour and deservedly took the lead through Tyreece Simpson’s cultured finish in the 16th minute.

But after failing to capitalise on their strong start, Rovers pegged the hosts back when Sam Finley’s deep cross from the left evaded a cluster of bodies in the middle as well as Lewis Ward to find the far corner.

Joey Barton’s men ensured a combative remainder of the game in their quest for a point, but Town appeared to lack a real desire to take the game to the visitors in search of a winner.

Asked afterwards if Garner felt he was brave enough in his decision-making, the Town boss said: “We wanted to stick with Plan A.

“You can take that gamble of changing shape and you might win the game, but you could quite easily throw the point away as well because you’re going to something the players aren’t that used to.

“I thought we’d finish stronger because of our fitness, and I think we did. I don’t think they created anything in the closing stages of the game whereas we looked strong.

“It wasn’t consistent, but we were creating opportunities and looked most likely to score.”

Despite claiming Town were trying to win what turned into a very evenly-contested match, Garner failed to make any changes to his starting XI.

The Town boss stated his side had enough out there to find another goal, but that clever fouls from Rovers and a lack of rhythm in the game prevented that from happening.

He said: “We were going for it in that game, we were playing to win. We’re not playing for a draw by any stretch of the imagination – that was a disappointed dressing room in there afterwards.

“We were not sitting back in the last 20 minutes and holding onto a point, far from it, we were the team trying to push on and win the game.

“It was a very disrupted game, it was hard to find any rhythm because there were a lot of fouls, but we were still pushing to win.

“We want to win every game we play home and away, and it will remain that way from now until the end of the season.”