Kennedy insists 'nobody set out to play badly' as Swindon thumped at home

Swindon Town boss Mark Kennedy insisted there was “nothing unforgiveable” about his team’s performance, after they were thumped 4-0 at home by Walsall.

Kennedy’s side were comfortably beaten at the Nigel Eady County Ground and left the head coach still looking for his first win of the season.

After a goalless opening half an hour, a defensive error allowed Walsall’s Josh Gordon the opportunity to convert the opener.

Jamille Matt then headed in a second for the Saddlers as they pulled further clear five minutes before half-time.

A moment of quality from Walsall’s Taylor Allen then made it 3-0 to the visitors before second-half substitute Albert Adomah added a fourth after just 64 minutes.

Asked by BBC Radio Wiltshire what the most unforgiveable thing was from his team, the boss replied: “There’s nothing unforgiveable in the game. Nobody can do anything in football that’s unforgiveable.

“Nobody set out to play badly, to make a mistake, to not take that extra yard, to allow somebody to cross the ball, to lose a header in the box.  

“Nobody in my team did anything unforgiveable. Did we make mistakes? Did we do things that I wasn’t happy with as a coach? 100 per cent. But nobody did anything unforgiveable.

“The black and white of today’s game was I think we got dominated in both boxes physically. I thought their strikers dominated our centre-halves and their centre-halves dominated our strikers.

“The game is all about moments and the game is ultimately about what you do in both boxes. Normally, everything inbetween 18 yard boxes tends to be pretty even. I felt that today.

“We had disappointments today and our learnings today were mentally for sure, being tougher in moments in the game. I thought they came out well on top in there. That’s what won them the game.”

Full-time this afternoon.#STFC pic.twitter.com/fWMLdl3zTJ

— Swindon Town Football Club (@Official_STFC) August 17, 2024

He added: “I think they’ve got technically very good players but physically they are a real powerhouse. They are certainly ahead of us in that department.

“I don’t see us a team being dominated, bullied or beaten up, but we were today for sure.

“Football is an in and out of possession game. I think we’ve got good footballers who can play good football.

“I think our balance of playing good football and EFL football was completely lopsided. I thought today we played an academy brand of football. Walsall gave us an education in what the league looks like in key moments in the game.

“We’re going to lose loads of games of football this year, but we’re going win lots of football games this year.

“No-one goes through the season without winning games of football. Every champion of every league in the world loses plenty of games of football. That’s the nature of the beast.

“I’ve had enough highs and lows in football to be able to balance a result in my head.”

Town’s next test comes against Crewe next Saturday (12.30pm).

(Picture: Rob Noyes)