PLAYER RATINGS: Swindon (0) Stockport County (1)

Swindon Town played for 89 minutes with ten-men as they slumped to a 1-0 defeat against play-off chasing Stockport County. 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: Sol Brynn – 8

With a clean sheet this was a nine, but that felt just a little high for this very critical ratings system in a game Swindon lost. Obviously, he saved the penalty and that is a point in his favour, but his whole performance was back to the best of Brynn. The ‘keeper made multiple big claims from crosses and held on to every shot that Stockport had, aside from the goal which he could do nothing about.

RB: Remeao Hutton – 4

That might be as poor as I have seen Hutton play this season. There is a big extenuating circumstance of when he did attack he was having to run a long way without a lot of help. But it felt like Stockport’s back-up left wing-back Ryan Rydel got the best of him as he only put two crosses in all match and neither went to a red shirt.

CB: Tom Brewitt – 6

There was one beautiful piece of skill from Brewitt when he played a one-two with George McEachran and then played a good ball to Hutton down the line, but overall this was a solid defensive performance rather than anything spectacular. He was always in the right place and made interventions when he needed to, but Stockport didn’t really make Swindon sweat enough for him to score higher.

CB: Frazer Blake-Tracy – 7

Now that is how to come back from injury. He won every header and defensive dual as usual, but you could have smelt his hunger even if you were stood outside the ground. He was debatably Swindon’s best attacker during the first-half when he drove out of defence, as well as their best defender throughout.

LB: Joe Tomlinson – 5

Something of a strange day for Tomlinson as he ended up playing most of it as a right centre-back, but both times he has been asked to play in the middle he has acquitted himself well. He also looked ambipedal to me as he made several passes with his right foot when he moved across.

CM: Saidou Khan – 5

There was one or two occasions when he pulled out the Khan-curve to beat a man and break the lines, but this game was all about being disciplined more than anything else. He didn’t give anything away and his decision making was sound, he just didn’t have a particular moment of quality.

CM: George McEachran – 6

Another player who this game was not exactly set up for, but he did well despite this. He is comfortably Swindon’s best presser and he showed that again, and then on the ball he played a few passes that just blow your mind at League Two level. This was never going to be a game for him, but he did well regardless.

CM: Jonny Williams – 5

His preferred number eight very quickly became a defensive left wing role and so he never really got on the ball to make things happen. He facilitated Rushian Hepburn-Murphy a few times, but never really created anything himself.

RW: Rushian Hepburn-Murphy – 7

Hepburn-Murphy did a great job of driving Swindon up the field. When Town were able to ease the pressure for a period, it was invariably because he had gotten them up the pitch in the first place. Had Hepburn-Murphy managed to do more than he did then he would have won goal of the season doing it as he was often attacking five defenders on his own. He also played the best through ball you will ever see at this level.

ST: Charlie Austin – 4

At this point, sitting in and playing on the counter is never going to be Austin’s bag. His old legs showed in that first half when Akil Wright beat him to Hepburn-Murphy’s wonder-pass and he was never going to have an impact on a game where you have to dribble 50 yards to have a shot.

LW: Jacob Wakeling – n/a

Probably saved by my 15 minutes to get a rating rule,  but obviously the only thing he did was get sent off.

Subs

Marcel Lavinier – 5

Lavinier is another one who put in a solid shift to keep Swindon in the game for as long as they were. He was always in the right place and nothing came down Stockport’s right, so largely job done from his perspective.

Ronan Darcy – 5

Darcy will always put the effort in, as evidenced by his desperate run to try and stop the goal, but he was another one who never offered anything in possession. Sofascore claims that he attempted four passes and none of them were completed, I don’t know if that is true, but it is worrying to look at.

Dylan Kadji – n/a

Tom Clayton – n/a

Luke Jephcott – n/a