PLAYER RATINGS: Swindon Town (2) Crewe Alexandra (2)

Swindon Town let a two-goal lead slip through their fingers in the second half as they opened League Two with a 2-2 draw against Crewe Alexandra. Total Sport’s Joe Acklam reviews the players’ individual performances.

Ratings scale: 10- won the game on their own, 9- unplayable, 8- outstanding, 7- very good, 6- good, 5- solid, 4- disappointing, 3- awful, 2- woeful, 1- frequent major errors

GK: Murphy Mahoney – 7

Mahoney was probably Swindon’s biggest question mark heading into the season, but he has come up with the answers in a big way in his first two appearances. He was left exposed for the goals that Swindon conceded but he pulled off a highlight reel save from a free-kick and was very calm dealing with some dangerous situations as well as showing off some very strong distribution.

RCB: Udoka Godwin-Malife – 8

Any reservations about the deal to bring in Godwin-Malife and send Marcel Lavinier to Forest Green have left my mind after a magnificent home debut from the man with the finest pipes in Wiltshire. Godwin-Malife was aggressive in every phase of the game and made himself known at both ends. A star is born.

CB: Tom Brewitt – 6

As Brewitt mentioned in his pre-match interview, this system seems to suit him well. The 26-year-old is a strong one v one defender and is comfortable on the ball, all of this was on display in a performance where he gave Courtney Baker-Richardson very little change.

LCB: Frazer Blake-Tracy – 7

Having the ability to maraud forward always suits Blake-Tracy down to the ground and he demonstrated that once again as had a strong impact at both ends of the pitch. I have given the edge to Godwin-Malife for this game as he got the goal and could have had an assist, but both showed very promising signs of the underlapping centre-backs system working.

RWB: Remeao Hutton – 6

At this point in his career, the bar for a very good Hutton display is rather high and I think he didn’t quite reach that against Crewe. However, during Town’s best period of the game either side of half-time, Hutton was heavily involved. His link-up with Godwin-Malife will be a lot of fun moving forward.

CM: George McEachran – 5

McEachran is another I hold to a high standard, and I felt he was not at his controlling best yesterday. There were times in the game when Swindon needed his ability to dictate games and didn’t get it. However, when Swindon were purring, he was moving the ball very nicely and enabling others to make their mark.

CM: Saidou Khan – 7

I was a rather harsh critic of Khan last season, but I was very impressed with him in this game. He faded a little when the game turned, but prior to this he was all action, putting in strong challenges in his own half and then crashing the box a minute later. Let’s hope this upturn continues.

LWB: Benn Ward – 4

Michael Flynn mentioned after the match that he had a back spasm early on and that would explain a rather shaky league debut. Ward didn’t look the most comfortable with his positioning as a wing-back and struggled at times with the rigours of getting up and down. He did set up the opener, so it was not all bad, but I think he would suit playing centre-back more.

CAM: Dan Kemp – 7

The Jack Payne comparisons have not been greatly exaggerated. Kemp was pulling the strings like Geppetto during Town’s best periods, appearing all over the pitch to play the perfect pass and put in a cross which caused Crewe defenders to visibly panic.

ST: Jacob Wakeling – 6

I was actually very impressed with Wakeling’s display. He was his typical energetic self off the ball and was causing problems with runs in behind when Swindon had it. There is still a lot of polishing to be done with him, but he was making good runs and contributing a lot more than when he was stuck out wide.

ST: Charlie Austin – 4

Is Gavin Gunning’s move to loan manager permanent? The key to success for Swindon this season will be getting Austin firing and so far, Gunning is the only one to have found that formula. A big miss at 2-1 on top of taking a few too many touches at times meant we did not see the man with the innate goalscoring ability to fire Swindon into the play-off chase.

Subs:

Jake Young – 6

Sol Pryce is the only Swindon debutant I can think of to have made a quicker impact than Young. He should have had an assist even before his ferocious strike two minutes after coming off the bench. His influence waned as the game went on, but this was a good starting point.

Tariq Uwakwe – 5

Flynn mentioned that he admitted his fitness was not where it needed to be in the dressing room after the game and you could see that as he looked off the pace. It was hardly a disastrous display, but he was not able to assert himself onto proceedings and the equaliser comes down his side.

Liam Kinsella – 5

Unfortunately, Kinsella’s role as the experienced head in midfield did not result in Swindon holding on for a win, but he did well after being introduced late on. He got around the pitch as he is expected to do and should have had an assist with a marvellous cross for Austin right before the second Crewe goal.