Swindon 2, Athletic 0: Sheridan hits out after ‘embarrassing’ defeat

RUNNING HARD: The chase is on as Athletic forward Lee Hughes and Swindon Town’s Sean Morrison focus on winning possession.

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JOHN SHERIDAN was livid with his players after Athletic slumped to defeat against struggling Swindon Town.

Sheridan apologised to Latics fans who travelled to the County Ground and questioned the commitment of his team.

Athletic have now suffered back-to-back losses for the first time in more than a year, while a worrying run has dumped them out of the League One play-off zone.

And, visibly furious, Sheridan raged: “I’m embarrassed by what I’ve seen. I didn’t enjoy it one bit and embarrassing is the word to describe our performance.

“We are a lot better than we showed. It was the worst we’ve played this season and the players are going to be working very hard from now on.

“They are at this level for a reason, and good players — players who reach higher — don’t just turn it on and off.

“The goals we gave away were an absolute joke. I was looking at poor players and we keep giving ourselves too much to do.

“We started okay, but after that it was schoolboy errors and people who were doing well at the start of the season aren’t doing that now.

“I know what the problem is and, as manager, I will sort it out — we started this game fifth in the table, but we played like we are going to get relegated.

“There was no desire or will to win, and I apologise to the fans because they came a long way to watch the game.

“I’ve said our performances have been good this season, but we had an opportunity for three points and we didn’t show the desire to get anything out of it, even at 2-0 down.

“I’m very aware we’ve only won one out of seven, so the quicker our next game comes along the better. We need to put this behind us and show what sort of football we can play.

“Consistency is key to getting out of this division and I’ve told the lads they are going to be working long, long hours.

“That performance wasn’t good enough and I’m not going to accept it. You can take positives when you lose, and I thought we played well at Bristol Rovers the other night, but that was shocking from one to 11.”

Athletic’s slide down the table has stemmed largely from their away results, which include consecutive defeats against Swindon, Bristol Rovers and Stockport.

However, they have one of the strongest home records in the country and will be aiming to defend it against Scunthorpe tomorrow night.




Alarm bells start ringing for Latics

TWO trips to the West Country, a pair of 2-0 defeats and, for the first time this season, there is genuine concern about Athletic’s level of form.

Their 90-minute display when losing to Bristol Rovers on Tuesday night was no more than average, and John Sheridan’s side took a distinct turn for the worse at Swindon.

Yes they were good enough to create chances in a bright opening to the game, but again they weren’t sharp enough to convert them.

Another dose of dodgy defending helped Swindon lead against the run of play. And, slowly but surely, Athletic became a pale imitation of the team who rampaged to the top of League One just a few short weeks ago.

Athletic launched the campaign in tremendous fashion with five wins out of six. Since then, they have won one, drawn three and lost three.

A couple of those performances were encouraging. Not on Saturday, not by a long chalk, as their third straight away defeat was a self-inflicted wound against opponents who were there for the taking.

Athletic trailed 2-0 at the end of a one-sided first half. Trouble was, they dominated most of the flippin’ thing themselves.

In general play they were miles better than Swindon — correction: they were miles and miles better — and the scoreline should have been the other way around.

Swindon, without a clean sheet all season, suffered early defensive chaos as Athletic threatened to tear them apart, with Lee Hughes the chief tormentor.

If Athletic had scored first, it’s perfectly feasible they would have won with ease against a team low on confidence. Instead they were punished for not taking chances at one end — and for taking too many at the other.

Swindon scored twice in 11 minutes, the second with a penalty after the visitors were careless in possession near their own box.

Still, no-one could quite believe the half-time score, and the expectation was that Athletic would re-emerge and put Swindon under severe pressure from the word go.

Very disappointingly it didn’t happen as Sheridan’s men lost their attacking impetus and Swindon improved beyond all recognition. Talk about a game of two halves.

Everything became far too easy for the home side as there was a lack of pressure on the ball and Athletic, rather than fighting back as they have on plenty of occasions this term, faded away into nothing.

It might have been oh so different as Swindon ’keeper Peter Brezovan fluffed a clearance after three minutes and presented Andy Liddell with a chance to push forward.

Liddell advanced down the right before before floating his cross to the unmarked Brett Ormerod, who headed well wide from 10 yards.

Brezovan was then tested by Chris Taylor, while Mark Allott’s driving run almost resulted in Taylor having a clear sight of goal.

Swindon’s back four were all at sea and, within the first quarter-hour, there was a strong sense that Athletic would capitalise if they got anywhere near their best form.

The hosts did have an opening when Billy Paynter’s header was saved, but Athletic’s next attack brought loud penalty appeals as Hughes saw his volley blocked by a hand.

The goal was definitely coming. It was only a matter of time. And then, to general amazement, Swindon gained the breakthrough after 25 minutes.

Striker Simon Cox did well to lure defenders out of position before slipping his pass to Sean Morrison, who drilled into the far corner from 12 yards.

And, just as though a switch had been flicked, Swindon were suddenly a different proposition.

Athletic ’keeper Mark Crossley made a fine save from Paynter, but his team still went 2-0 down after sloppy defending led to a free-kick on the right.

It was handled at the far post by Hughes — the striker claimed he was shoved in the back — and Jack Smith converted the penalty by sending Crossley the wrong way.

To make matters worse, Danny Whitaker missed a glorious opportunity with only Brezovan to beat. And when he did get the ball in the net three minutes before half-time, the midfielder was ruled offside.

Athletic were now faced by a huge task, which very nearly became tougher when Paynter headed just wide and Cox’s audacious lob hit the woodwork.

An Athletic chance went begging as sub Craig Davies turned away from Smith but could only poke off target under pressure.

As time ticked by, however, their threat began to evaporate and Morrison could have pinched his second goal with a close-range effort which was cleared off the line.

Swindon became all too comfortable in defence — a complete reversal of earlier in the game — and for at least the final 30 minutes Athletic were pretty feeble.

They trudged off the pitch as a crestfallen team, heads bowed and clearly in need of a result to pick them up at home to League One leaders Scunthorpe.