Tommy Wright slams STFC players following defeat

SWINDON TOWN were left humiliated by MK Dons, who ran riot at the County Ground to secure a 1-4 win on Tuesday evening. Total Sport Swindon’s Rajan Hothi spoke to a furious Tommy Wright following the heavy defeat.

A quick start from the visitors saw them go 2-0 up after 28 minutes, thanks to goals from Cameron Jerome and Daniel Harvie. A stunning long-range effort from Jack Payne brought Swindon back into the clash - against the run of play, however, a second goal from Jerome just minutes later, alongside Regan Poole’s late header, condemned Swindon to another defeat in League One. 

Swindon Town Assistant Manager Tommy Wright did not hold back after the defeat, and was understandably seething with his sides lack of quality in the first-half. 

“We were second best, poor on the ball, we didn’t compete, they ran more than us, controlled the ball better than us, passed better than us and they were told that at half-time," said Wright. 

“Some of them need to wake up in there, football is brutal, and if they don’t, they won’t be here and who is going to take them?

“They can be whatever they think, but they’re delusional.

“If they put in performances like that, they won’t be in football, never mind at Swindon.”

A slow start from Town saw them fighting an uphill battle, as the visitors controlled the game after taking the lead within three minutes, and Wright revealed how a lack of desire can result in the heavy defeat his side suffered.

“I can’t [account for the slow start],” stated Wright. 

“They’ve trained well this week, obviously it has been hard with the weather, but that’s no excuse.

“They’re decent footballers on their day, but when you go out there and don’t compete, and don’t have the desire to run about and take care of that white thing on the pitch, you’re in trouble,” he continued.

“We found that out in the first-half, because that just wasn’t acceptable.

“It’s like anything in football, you have to run about, and when that white thing comes to you, you have to control it and pass it to your teammate.

“People can make football difficult, but it isn’t a difficult game if you play it properly.

“We haven’t played it properly, we had no desire, and we had no quality.

“If you don’t have those aspects during a game you will struggle, and we struggled,” he added.

A slightly improved second-half saw Swindon put more pressure on the MK Dons goal, but they could not find a way back into the clash, and let another poor goal in near the end to kill off any hopes of a comeback. 

“The second-half was better, but it couldn’t have been any worse could it?

“If we got the second goal to make it 3-2, it might have put them under a bit of pressure, we had one or two opportunities but their ‘keeper made a few good saves,” said Wright. 

“We then give away another poor goal, but overall, it was a poor performance, and we’ll go on to Saturday where we’ll have to pick a team that we think will give us some passion and desire.”

With the January transfer window looming, it is evident Swindon need to recruit well to maintain their League One status following a run of poor results.

Wright made no secret of the desire for changes and indicated there will be movement in January. 

“After tonight we have made a lot of decisions, and I don’t think they [the players] can have any arguments,” Wright revealed. 

“It’s come to the stage where we have to turn things around.

“It’s been long enough, we keep giving away bad goals, keep looking vulnerable after we concede one.

“We need to make changes,”  he said.