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PRESS CONFERENCE LIVE: Swindon Town v Harrogate

Good morning and thank you for joining us for this mornings press conference live blog as Swindon Town welcome Harrogate to the County Ground tomorrow.

9:27AM

That concludes today's press conference. Thank you for joining us.

9:26AM

Garner on AFCON Cup in January:

"I would say looking at things we will be without JoJo Wollacott in January. He has done really well with Ghana and has played their last four games including a clean-sheet against South Africa last time out. It's brilliant for JoJo and I would fully expect him to not only be called up but also start for Ghana. We are preparing for that and we are very fortunate to have two fantastic keepers who both deserve to be number one but we will look at cover for that position."

9:24AM

Garner on Jayden Mitchell-Lawson:

"Jayden is now ready and back to full fitness. I think he has lost 7% body fat since coming into the club and that is full credit to him for getting back in top physical condition. He is now just chomping at the bit to get an opportunity and the front players have done well. He is ready to play at any moment now and he trains really well and is great around the group. When he gets the opportunity I know he will take it."

9:19AM

Garner on approach to Harrogate game:

"I think looking at Harrogate we have to work really hard as a starting point. Our endeavour and determination will have to be very good but then we have to impose our game and on Tuesday I thought we had spells when we were really in control. We want to try and have that control and the good attacking play we showed again but probably need to restrict Harrogate more to fewer chances than what we did on Tuesday night."

9:16AM

Garner on Simpson-McKirdy partnership:

"They do complement one another and they both have different attributes and are different in what they do out of possession as well. All our front players' physical output and pressing is incredible. It's not just in possession and what they give us with their quality but it's also what they do for the team and I am really happy with all our front players at the club."

9:12AM

Garner on Dion Conroy's 100th appearance for Swindon:


"Dion is having a really good season so far and he has faced a lot of adversity at this football club with his injuries and I'm sure there have been some tough times for him but he has come through those and I always think that makes you stronger as a character. He has grown in confidence as the season progresses and the run of games and playing well has done wonders for his confidence.


"He is the Captain who leads the team and I am really pleased with Dion and hopefully there are many more appearances to come."


9:10AM

Garner on defensive selection headache:

"We want people that when they come into the team or change position as is the case with Rob Hunt that they do well and he has done fantastically well and at the moment he has got that shirt [at centre-back]. Romoney Crichlow has been great this season and coming back from injury he knows he has got to prove himself to get back into the starting 11."

9:07AM

Garner on injuries:


"Romoney [Crichlow] has been with us. He did the first week of rehab in Huddersfield because he sustained the injury in Oldham and was planning to stay up in Huddersfield that weekend so the first week he stayed up there and we appreciate Huddersfield looking after him for that first week and managing him in those first few days.

"Since then he has been back with us and been going through a programme and joined in full training yesterday with so far no adverse reaction. All being well today he will be available for selection.

"Mathieu Baudry is doing his rehab and I think that will be longer-term. We think that will be 2/3 weeks from now but he is a quick healer and is such a positive guy with his mentality and his approach. We need to make sure we do things the right way and he is rehabbed fully. Everyone else is great."

9:03AM

Garner on skills gap between League Two and National League:

"Sutton United are another team that have adapted really well after gaining promotion from the National League. I think that gap depends on the club and the individuals concerned. Teams have come up and gone through the leagues, Lincoln are an example of that having progressed up into League One.


So it can be done and what I would say is there is a lot of money being invested into clubs in the National League and some big wages being paid possibly above what EFL clubs are paying so that gap may shorten further."

9:01AM

Garner on Harrogate:


"They have a really strong away record and got a good midweek result against Carlisle. I think Simon Weaver has done a wonderful job there in terms of getting them up from non-league, stabilising them in League Two, and having a strong campaign so far this season. They have some good players in their squad and even though they have a couple of injuries at the moment they are still a good team.


"They are strong on expected goals and a few other metrics so we know they will be a threat. They have some attacking players that can create and score goals and it is another game we are looking forward to."

8:57AM

Garner on Williams' headed goal v Hartlepool:

"I didn't realise that had been the only headed goal we had scored this season until someone told me and I didn't realise Jonny Williams hadn't scored a header since that Ipswich game at U16 until he told me.

"It's strange but hopefully we can get a few more and as long as it goes in the goal I don't care what part of the body it comes off as long as it counts."

8:56AM

Garner on 21 passes leading to the opening goal v Hartlepool:

"It was really well worked and I think there was a little bit of frustration from the stands at that point but that's other way we play. We are probing in looking for those openings and we don't just crash it forward. It was a really well-worked goal and I think it was 19 passes in the build-up to the second goal as well.

"We believe in passing the ball and believe in trying to be the attacking team with possession and that won't change."


8:52AM

Garner on Hartlepool victory:


"There was lots of positives in the game and I thought we scored some fantastic goals. Credit to Hartlepool because they played well but there are always things we can improve. It was really pleasing to get those 3 points especially at home and hopefully we can kick on tomorrow."

8:50AM

Thank you for joining us for this mornings press conference. Today's blog is a recording of the pre-Harrogate press conference that happened moments ago. We will be back with a live blog on Monday morning.

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