Swindon Town's Luke Williams: "Maybe I need to come in dressed as Rockin' Robin"

Swindon Town head coach Luke Williams has joked that he needs to start dressing up as mascot Rockin Robin to inspire his side at half-time.

In the 0-0 draw at home to Oldham on Saturday Swindon dominated proceedings in the first half, having 16 shots on goal, but did not manage to score and the young Robins' dominance dropped after the half-time break.

They managed to have a further 10 shots but the Latics held firm for the point which weakened Swindon's chances of survival in League One this season.

Not for the first time this campaign head coach Williams was left ruing a below-par second half showing, especially in recent home matches.

In the A420 derby against Oxford Swindon had a 1-0 lead against the Us but "could not cope with the reality of being in front" and lost the match 2-1 while prior to that, versus Peterborough, Town lost 1-0 with the goal coming a matter of seconds into the second half.

Williams was understandably downbeat after the Oldham draw but did joke about his team talks not having the desired impact.

"I tell them to start terrible in the second period," he joked.

"The truth is we've tried many different things to say to them, like: 'look, listen, we didn't start the last one well, ok? So let's be ready, let's go out earlier and do some fast-feet work with the fitness coach and try to ready the body and the mind together' - didn't work.

"We tried 'ok, let's try and not over-complicate it, let's be steady for the first few minutes and feel our way back into it' - that didn't work.

"I don't know, maybe I need to come in dressed as Rockin' Robin or something, I don't know, but it feels like that.

"We start the second period so, so, so different to the first one so maybe the reality is maybe the young group in that 15 minutes start to feel a pressure and start to think 'let's not lose and if we don't win there's going to be more pressure and people are going to say things'.

"We try and distract them from that, we try to fill them with positivity and, of course, you can't account for everybody's own head space, you know? 

"Sometimes you're trying to talk to a group and you're aware that one or two in there are not quite focused on you so there's a thousand things that go on.

"I'm sure with more experienced groups I've seen here for example - we've had Jay McEveleys and Darren Wards - they're in the changing rooms and they're composed, they've been and seen all the different scenarios and they probably don't overthink things too much."

On the Oldham match specifically, Williams believed that the Robins failed to build on their first-half showing more due to the impressive tactics of Latics boss John Sheridan rather than Swindon's ability decreasing.

"I think credit to Oldham. I mean, for them to come with John Sheridan as a manager and to not put up any resistance would be a miracle, a one-off, because it never happens with this manager.

"They're a team of professional footballers that don't go anywhere and roll over. They're still fighting, they've not given up, there's no reason for them to give up of course, they're in a position now where (they're ok) if the league finishes tomorrow.

"I expect them to have something to I think more credit to Oldham. I think if we didn't manage to get back on top then there's a problem but to weather the storm and then have another go to try to win it is acceptable."