Match-winning substitute Jacob Wakeling proves Swindon boss Scott Lindsey right

Posted Wednesday, September 14, 2022 by PA

Swindon manager Scott Lindsey said his team’s soul-searching following disappointing results helped contribute to their dramatic 3-2 win over Sutton.

Substitute Jacob Wakeling came off the bench to fire the stuttering hosts to a much-needed stoppage-time victory.

It was the Robins’ second win of the campaign in all competitions and while they are unbeaten in the league since the opening game, Lindsey understood the importance of their success on Tuesday night.

He said: “That win gives us more of a lift than you will ever believe. We feel that we are playing well at the moment and we are seven unbeaten.

“I am really pleased with the players, they have put a real shift in since the last game in training and we have been doing a lot of soul-searching, analysis, and talking about it on the training ground.

“I think we certainly deserved the win tonight, certainly at Stockport and again at Gillingham I felt we missed opportunities and dropped points.

“We planned before the game to take off (Luke) Jephcott after 70 minutes as he hasn’t played since pre-season, so that was always going to be the case, but I felt we had to make the change sooner because the game went a bit flat.

“I thought Jacob could bring that spark and he certainly did.”

Will Randall gave Sutton the lead after four minutes but goalkeeper Jack Rose gifted Tyrese Shade a 35th-minute equaliser and Jonny Williams fired Swindon into the lead three minutes later.

Sutton levelled right before half-time when Randall notched his second but deep into stoppage time Frazer Blake-Tracy picked out Wakeling and he nodded in his third goal of the season to snatch the points.

Sutton manager Matt Gray said: “We didn’t get what we deserved, we came here and put a real shift in and showed some real quality at times and to score two goals. We just did not get what we wanted.

“We exploited them really well on the counter attack early on and scored a great goal and I didn’t see their equaliser coming. To concede those two goals was really disappointing.

“After their first goal, it was the only time in the whole game where I felt we were under pressure, but we had a great response with another counter attack to exploit the spaces they leave in behind.

“I was really pleased with that as an away performance as I don’t remember Jack Rose having a save to make and we felt comfortable.”