Mark Kennedy pleased with Swindon’s ‘toughness’ after win at Cheltenham

Posted Sunday, October 13, 2024 by PA

Manager Mark Kennedy hailed Swindon’s resilience after they withstood a late onslaught to win 3-2 at Cheltenham.

The visitors were two up at the break after goals from George Cox and Will Wright.

Joel McGregor added a third just after half-time, piling the misery on ex-Swindon boss Michael Flynn, before goals from George Miller and Ethon Archer set up a tense finish.

Kennedy said: “I was absolutely delighted with the resilience. Unfortunately I felt we brought it on ourselves but from there we showed our mental toughness and physical toughness to deal with an onslaught of aerial balls.

“I thought we more than dealt with what they threw at us. By hook or by crook you have to find a way of getting three points and there will be games where you don’t play great, I didn’t think we were brilliant today by any stretch of the imagination.

“My only disappointment was that I didn’t feel the scoreline reflected the game because I thought we were comfortable 3-0 winners and we even missed a couple more big chances but it was huge credit to Michael and his team for making it tough.”

Cox met Tunmise Sobowale’s cross from the right to open the scoring after half an hour, finding the top-right corner.

Cox’s free-kick was then tucked home by Wright to make it 2-0 four minutes later.

Flynn made a triple change at half-time but Swindon extended their lead inside two minutes.

Danny Butterworth weaved his way into the box before finding Cox and after a scramble in the six-yard box, McGregor fired home.

Lewis Shipley saw a header hit the post for Cheltenham in the 62nd minute.

Substitute Miller turned in Archer’s cross a minute later and Archer reached Lewis Payne’s cross to make it 3-2 in the 78th minute but Swindon had done enough for their first win at Cheltenham.

Flynn slammed his team’s defending, which he described as “nowhere near the level required for professional football”.

“I am absolutely fuming,” he said. “We have worked on stopping crosses, dealing with balls in the box, and we’ve been doing it for weeks now because we’ve seen a common trend.

“We have conceded 10 goals now from crosses into the box and you shouldn’t concede that throughout the season and we’ve done it after 11 games.

“I have just told them that if they can’t do it, I’ll have to wait and make sure we get people in who can.

“I thought we were the better team at first but as soon as the first goal went in, which Swindon didn’t have to do anything about, heads dropped and a few players went into their shells.”