It was another good performance from the Blues on Saturday afternoon with a number of excellent chances created, and a goal for each team ahead of half-time meant a share of the spoils on what was another incredibly hot day.
Having seen his side fashion some excellent opportunities, United boss Paul Simpson was rightly pleased with what he’d seen.
“I don’t think we can get frustrated too much,” he said. “I keep saying about the performance and that if we keep consistently getting it right then we’ll get the rewards.
“I think the performance was right and there were a lot of good things to come out of it. I’ve got to be honest, I’ve just walked across the pitch there to get up here to do this and that is hot out there, I have to say.
“Credit to every single one of the players because in really testing conditions they’ve made a right game of football out of it.
“I thought it was a really entertaining game, as much as I am spectator watching it and trying not to get carried away. We were up against a Swindon side who haven’t had a win so far and they showed that they’re a good football team.
“We’ve shown again that we can cause teams problems, we’ve created some good chances and the one thing that I’m looking at from the game – and this is raw without watching any of it back – we’ve just got to be more clinical. That’s been the story of our season so far.”
Speaking more about the quality of the openings created, he told us: “I don’t think they’re going missing, we’re just not taking them.
“What I mean by that is the important thing is that we’re creating them. That’s the biggest plus for us.
“I’ve just said to the players that those who were here before I came to the club, I think it shows how far we’ve come because I’m led to believe that the performance against these last season meant that we got absolutely turned over, and unfortunately it cost a really good football person in Keith Millen his job.
“The players have come a long way since then, for whatever reason, and we held our own in this one and probably, barring a few little counter-attacks that we had against us at the end – and we need to tighten up on those – I think we’ve probably done enough to win the game.
“But we’ve got to make sure we don’t get too disappointed that we only got one point out of it because we’re playing some good stuff. That’s what we need to build on.”
A feature of the first four games of the season has been the fitness and energy levels shown by a group that is covering a lot of ground.
“I’m delighted with that,” he confirmed. “It’s a tough one because at the moment we’re still getting Omari Patrick up to full fitness.
“He isn’t fully fit, but because of injuries and a ‘needs must’ situation we’re having to play him to get fit.
“Jack Stretton is still not at the tempo we need him to be at, so we’re having to get him into games to get him fit.
“Credit to the players, with the horrendous injury run we’re having at the moment they’re all digging in and working hard for each other.
“I think it shows the value of the squad that we’re able to put on a performance when we’ve got quite a high number of players who are considered to be starters not involved.”
It was Swindon who scored first, but there was certainly no sense of panic as the players battled hard in the heat to get back on level terms.
“You can always grumble about goals conceded,” he commented. “The truth of it is that every goal comes from a mistake. There’s always a mistake or something that didn’t happen to cause it.
“It was a bit unfortunate for Callum because he probably had two opportunities where he could have cleared it, and he just couldn’t quite get the ball out from under his feet.
“There was a little bit of a scramble and maybe we could have done better to try to put a bit more pressure on the lad as he’s getting to the edge of the box, but I haven’t seen it back.
“It was frustrating because I thought we started the game really well, and when we got to the first drinks break I said to the players that there wasn’t a lot wrong. I told them to keep doing what they were doing because the way we set up to stop them playing out from the back was ok.
“It was making the keeper kick it long because they have a good shape to them and they can play well. There are frustrations with every goal conceded but I’m happy with our goal as well.”
“I thought we had five minutes after they scored where we looked a bit rocky,” he added. “I thought that was a bit of a test for us, and I was interested to see how we were going to react.
“The lads dug in, they kept going and they started to create chances again. Everybody will look at Omari’s chance in the first half, but he was actually offside, so it wouldn’t have counted anyway. That did him a bit of favour, got him out of jail on that one.
“We created some really good opportunities and that’s because we were constantly on the front foot. We pressed and we won things high up the pitch and the little openings we got came from that.
“It really is about us just being more clinical. Even the chance in the second half where Kristian Dennis, who has been absolutely outstanding for us, he’s flying with goals, and he sticks one over the bar from about four or five yards.
“These things happen, he maybe should have left it for Jack Stretton, he was possibly in a better position, but, listen, we’re ok. We’re sitting with a decent number of points from the first three games, and I know we all wish we could have more, but you can’t always have what you want.”
Click HERE to watch an interview with Paul Simpson on iFollow United now.
Click HERE to see a clip from this interview on our YouTube channel. Follow the same link for more FREE content right from the heart of the club.
