Swindon boss Ian Holloway: I honestly can’t believe we haven’t scored

Ian Holloway was left in disbelief after seeing his Swindon side’s six-match unbeaten run ended at Harrogate.

The Robins dominated the first half and created a number of decent opportunities over the course of the 90 minutes, but ultimately left North Yorkshire empty-handed having failed to capitalise while they were in the ascendancy.

Harrogate centre-half Jasper Moon scored the only goal of the game early in the second period, with Robins striker Harry Smith denied a stoppage-time equaliser by James Belshaw’s fine reaction stop.

And Holloway felt his players did more than enough to have taken “at least” a share of the spoils.

“It’s a sad day because our winning and drawing streak and not getting beat is over and we’ve got to start again,” the Swindon boss said.

“I’ll be sat on the coach on the way home thinking ‘how on earth haven’t we got at least a point – at least’.

“Probably 0-0 would have been a fairer result on reflection, or at least 1-1. I honestly can’t believe we haven’t scored in that game.

“So I’m gutted for us. We wanted three points to get closer to where we want to be. But I want to congratulate Harrogate for their effort. They put in one heck of a shift and we couldn’t break them down.

“Well done to them, their game is really difficult to play against. They are really well organised, a fantastic unit.”

Swindon enjoyed 63 per cent of possession at Wetherby Road and managed 16 shots at goal, five of which hit the target.

On where they went wrong, Holloway added: “What you have to do is create chances when you’re in a more dominant position – and take your chances.

“We moved the ball very well and got it into wide areas and I was expecting us to score in that period. Unfortunately, we didn’t. We normally do, but we didn’t.

“We wanted more of the same after half-time but unfortunately they had a spell where they pinned us in and we couldn’t get out.

“It was a training ground move (for the goal) and the bloke who was expecting to put it in, he skewed it so badly it went to one of their other fellas – and then you’re against the curve, so to speak.

“It is a blip, but the performance is more like I want us to be in the future.”

Victory was Harrogate’s first in six attempts and keeps them seven points clear of the League Two relegation zone.

“We had to find a way to win and I was very proud of the efforts of the players,” Sulphurites chief Simon Weaver said.