Bennett still believes in Swindon playoff charge

KYLE BENNETT remains confident that Swindon Town can still challenge for the playoffs despite dropping points in yesterdays 1-1 draw with Grimsby Town at the County Ground. Total Sport Swindon’s Ryan Walker got the thoughts of Bennett following the match.

A difficult 90-minutes saw Swindon dominate the game but fail to break down the ten-men of Grimsby as Theo Robinson’s goal was quickly cancelled out. However, Bennett was upbeat in the aftermath of the result and insisted that Swindon can still make up the ground on the top seven.

“It’s a long old season and there are still a lot of games to play,” said Bennett.

“It’s swings and roundabouts and today it was our turn to be on the receiving end of it.

“It happens a lot in football where you score and then concede straightaway and it’s a habit of football.

“Obviously we switched off and the goal is disappointing. It’s definitely avoidable so I think we have to look at that on the training field and make sure we are more compact after scoring,” he added.

And when questioned on why Swindon failed to make their man advantage count following Ludvig Ohman’s 66th-minute red card, Bennett detailed how a compact playing style made it hard to break Grimsby down. 

“They were an energetic team when they didn’t have the ball and I think that’s what they [Grimsby] probably pride themselves on,” said Bennett.

“It’s difficult to break down but we’ve got the players capable of closing that down with the likes of Keshi [Anderson] and Theo [Robinson] playing up top today.

“They’ve got the pace to frighten anyone and I think they did that a lot against Grimsby,” he said. 

“It was a battling performance but I didn’t get on the ball as much as I’d like to but it was an ok performance.

“The manager told me to be a free spirit in there [behind the striker] but when we haven’t got it to cut the spaces and pick up players,” said Bennett.

Victory yesterday would’ve seen Swindon make it three wins on the bounce, however, with both sides splitting the points, Swindon now sit seven points outside the playoffs. 

But new signing Bennett believes that Swindon have the players to challenge for promotion this season. 

“There are some very very talented boys here and it’s a young squad,” stated Bennett.

“We definitely have the capability of mounting a charge for the playoffs.

“I know people may not want to talk about that but I definitely think we have the capability to do it.

“We’ve had just one defeat in seven games so that’s definitely playoff form and I think we need to string a few wins together and see where we are from there,” he said.