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

Swindon Town got straight back to winning ways against Newport County, bouncing back with a strong performance against the Exiles. Total Sport’s Joe Acklam reviews the players individual displays.

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 – 7

It has been very tough to grade Brynn lowly this season as he has been exceptional every week. His distribution was strong and in the rare moments when he was needed he came up big to bail Swindon out. When are we going to start having the conversation about where he ranks against Steven Benda, Lawrence Vigoroux and Wes Foderingham?

RB: Remeao Hutton – 6

His last minute goal-line clearance was crucial and Scott Lindsey was right to say that a lot of his back post defending was key. Hutton is a tough man to stop on the run and he put in a lot of crosses, but according to Sofascore only found a red shirt once. I got the feeling Newport were happy to let him cross and backed themselves to defend it.

CB: Mathieu Baudry – 5

Baudry’s distribution is exemplary, although once or twice he chose a Hollywood pass when he could have made it easier for his teammates to play a simple one. However, the times Newport looked threatening usually came through a Baudry error or when he got caught out.

CB: Tom Clayton – 7

Even though Baudry was being targeted on the counter, the man who cleaned up was almost always Clayton. He is remarkably consistent for a man playing his first professional season. He never loses the ball and is as assured as any defender I have seen.

LB: Frazer Blake-Tracy – 5

Due to the freedom being afforded to Hutton on the right, Blake-Tracy saw a lot less of the ball and was not particularly influential. This could be because of Newport’s aerial proficiency but he also seemed less aerially dominant on Tuesday.

CM: Ben Gladwin – 7

I was confused at his man of the match award at the weekend, but he bounced straight back today. I saw in pre-season that he was showing signs of his younger self and when he got the ball and drove forwards Newport could not live with him. His passing range was also a joy to watch.

CM: Louis Reed – 7

The main reason for Swindon’s improved performance was that the tempo was way higher than against Northampton and Reed is the reason why. He always sets the tone and constantly moved the ball around the field and kept the Swindon train chugging.

CM: Ronan Darcy – 8

He was frankly breathless. I was critical that his energy dropped on Saturday but it came straight back last night. He was popping up all over the place and the fact he chose to shoot whenever he was in the same postcode as the goal was fine as he was accurate and Nick Townsend rarely kept hold of his shots.

RW: Jacob Wakeling – 5

I am not totally sold on Wakeling as a winger. He is happy to do it and puts in a hell of a shift, but he just feels less involved. His tendency to stay inside means he doesn’t use the space as well as he could, but he is also not getting into goalscoring positions as often.

ST: Luke Jephcott – 6

Grading Jephcott is tough as I suppose this was a successful performance for him as he is in the team to pounce on loose balls in the box. However, I just find it difficult to give someone a high mark for only having one moment all game. He wasn’t involved, but he also isn’t supposed to be. You can ignore this mark if you want.

LW: Jonny Williams – 7

I count Williams as part of the midfield, even if he is nominally part of the front three as he is tasked with controlling the tempo and making Swindon tick. I would like to have seen a bit more creativity from him, but the Swindon mechanism was working like Swiss clockwork and Williams is a big part of that.

Subs

Saidou Khan – 6

A very strong 20 minutes as he came on to see the game out and Newport barely had a sniff whilst he was on the pitch.

Tyrese Shade – 5

He failed to truly put his stamp on the game after coming off the bench, it remains to be seen how much of a impact player he is.

Ellis Iandolo – N/A