Swindon boss Richie Wellens satisfied with draw against Plymouth

Posted Sunday, October 13, 2019 by PA

Swindon manager Richie Wellens was content to watch his patched-up side come away with a point from their 1-1 draw with Plymouth.

The Robins looked to be heading for victory when Eoin Doyle fired them in front in first-half stoppage time only for Joel Grant to salvage Plymouth a draw with 14 minutes remaining.

“That was a proper game, I’m happy with a point,” Wellens said.

“We never want to sit deep, but Mathieu Baudry’s not played for five weeks and Gabriel Zakuani’s played three games in a week after not playing for five months.

“Dion Donohue’s played one game since March, Jordan Lyden’s not played for four or five weeks and he’s now played two games in a week so the energy just disappeared from us.

“With the injuries we have we can’t plan things through the week. We worked a little bit about our midfield four in and out of possession but it’s the hardest thing as a manager.

“If you pick up three injuries one week then two more the week after it’s hard. I just hope the other teams in this league suffer the same as what we have, and then we’ll see how we go.”

In a first half of few chances, Doyle made it 1-0 after rushing onto a Lyden pass before dinking the ball over the onrushing Alex Palmer.

Grant levelled with a composed finish from the left-hand side of the box to send the well-travelled Green Army into raptures behind the goal.

Plymouth will feel a share of the spoils were justified, given that Ryan Lowe’s side just about edged proceedings in the second half.

Zak Rudden and Jose Baxter both shot over the crossbar while Scott Wootton fired just wide prior to Grant’s strike.

Plymouth boss Lowe said: “In the first half we didn’t play as well as we should, they high pressed in our faces, which I still want us to try and play.

“It was a bit of a derby in the first half, but we conceded a sloppy goal from our point of view in the first half – the goal before half-time changes everything.

“Second half we were the better team, we were playing and roaming forward more and George Cooper and Jose Baxter gave us that little bit more.

“I thought we deserved the goal but overall it was a good result.

“I thought even though we didn’t play well in the first half, I still thought we had two great chances to go 2-0 up in the first half.

“They got the goal but in the second half I thought there was only one team that was going to win and we deserved the goal.”