Sheridan trusts Kovar to come good

JOHN SHERIDAN admits he has seen encouraging signs from his Swindon Town players since taking over at the club, insisting that they have enough to avoid League One relegation this season. Total Sport Swindon’s Ryan Walker spoke to the Swindon Town manager following last night’s home defeat to Lincoln City.

Another improved performance saw Swindon Town hold on for seventy-three minutes against the high-flying Lincoln City before Matej Kovar’s goalkeeping error allowed Lewis Montsma to head in the only goal of the game.

Speaking after the game, Sheridan explained he is encouraged by an upturn in form over recent performances.

“We know the situation regarding conceding goals so if I look at the two last performances then I am very encouraged,” said Sheridan.

“I thought the players made life difficult against a very difficult opponent who is attack-minded and created lots of problems for other teams they played.

“To nullify them it was a good solid performance. We weren’t too creative ourselves but I think Mathieu Baudry had the best chance of the game with Mathieu Baudry at the end,” he added.

“To concede the goal is a downer after the way we played and kept Lincoln quiet all night.

“But I’ve got to take encouragement from the game and try to take that into our upcoming games,” he said.

“If we’re going to win games then we have to win clean sheets.

“I think we are conceding too many goals and tonight that goal shouldn’t have happened.

“It’s a great workmanlike performance and I’m all for being entertaining in our play but in the position we are in we need to get results.

“It’s not about possession of the ball and conceding three or four goals every game, without a doubt we should’ve kept a clean-sheet.

“At the same time we do need to take more care of the ball and create more opportunities when in possession.

“But we shouldn’t have lost the game and it was a very even match,” said Sheridan.

A change in tactics saw Paul Caddis forced into a defensive midfield position with Akin Odimayo the preferred choice at right-back. And when asked for the reasons on this change, the Swindon Town manager explained a big injury list left him with no other options.

“I haven’t got many players to choose from at the moment,” said Sheridan.

“We are picking injuries up left, right, and centre.

“We’ve picked up a couple of injuries from the Bristol game and even Anthony Grant was only 50/50 going into this match.

“Sometimes I’m going to have to play players out of position but Caddis is a good pro and I thought he done well and he gave us a bit of a defensive mindset in there,” he said.

Last night also saw defender Tom Broadbent make his first start of the season, whom after not being given a squad number at the start of the season has forced his way back into contention. 

Sheridan praised the central defender for a good performance.

“Tom done alright. He is still match short but again he was part of a good display,” stated Sheridan.

“He defended well but we’ve got to be more positive going forward.

“At the same time I’ve made it clear to the players that I feel we are at our most vulnerable when we have the ball,” he added.

“We do silly things and create problems for ourselves and I saw that again tonight.

“But the work ethic and shape of the team was solid and we should’ve picked something up tonight,” said Sheridan.

“We need to do better at keeping clean-sheets and tonight we were solid against a team who has scored lots of goals.

"We should be talking about a good result, so I take a lot of things out of this match,” he said.

Matej Kovar’s failure to deal with a simple corner will be the main talking point following the loss as the on-loan Manchester United goalkeeper cost his team deserved league points.

But despite being unhappy with the error, Sheridan remains confident that the shot-stopper will come good in Swindon colours.

“Matej is a young keeper and I don’t want to be too harsh on him,” said Sheridan.

“He knows he should be doing better but it’s about learning the game. 
 
 “When you make mistakes you need to learn from them.

“Both Joe and Matej are both pushing for that position at the moment,” he added.

“Matej is in there at the minute and he made a great save on Saturday when we were one-nil up.

“I think he knows he should do better but I will say what I have to say and if I need to speak to players then I try not to make it too open.

“He knows he should do better with the goal but he is part of a team.

“He will be an excellent keeper but he has to get experience in football.

“Hopefully he will take this into the next game and learn from that,” said Sheridan.