WHAT WE LEARNED: Forest Green Rovers (1) Swindon Town (2)

Frazer Blake-Tracy scored a stoppage time worldie to earn Michael Flynn his first win in charge of Swindon Town, 2-1 against Forest Green Rovers. Total Sport’s Joe Acklam looks at what can be learned from the game.

Forest Green opened the scoring early as Matty Stevens finished cooly across Murphy Mahoney in a first half that Town struggled to assert themselves on.

Dan Kemp tapped home his first Swindon goal inside the first two minutes of the second half, before a second yellow card to Harvey Bunker saw the hosts reduced to ten and then in the dying seconds of the match Blake-Tracy struck a thunderbolt into the top corner from 25 yards out.

What can Michael Flynn take away from his first win in charge of Swindon Town?

1. Counter attacks out wide remain an issue.

With the way Town are attacking, the wing-backs need to push high and this works well in possession, but it is causing a problem that will need to be solved. Particularly against two striker formations, there is a large amount of space in wide areas when the ball turns over. Forest Green used this effectively in the majority of their attacks to get shots on goal. The inexperience of Brooklyn Genesini was often clear as Frazer Blake-Tracy was frequently having to deal with Tyrese Omotoye and Kyle MacAllister on his own with the wing-back caught up field. Two of the three goals Town have conceded in the league have come from these situations and some thinking needs to go into boarding up that hole. This became a particular issue when Forest Green went down to ten men as it allowed them to get out and prevented Swindon from having too much control.

2. Udoka Godwin-Malife continues to be all that.

The star of the opening two weeks of the season kept shining for Swindon as Godwin-Malife delivered another top performance. His physical defending largely kept Stevens quiet and his driving runs out from the back proved invaluable to a Swindon team struggling to pass their way around Forest Green. Kemp’s equaliser came from him bursting beyond two players before laying the ball off to Genesini. His contributions to both sides of the game are giving him quite the lead in the early player of the season race.

3. Charlie Austin is overthinking situations.

The most natural goal scorer at this level has made a slow start to the season and it feels like he is trying to be too clever. All too often Swindon would get into crossing positions, and he would be stood too far outside the back post. This seemed to make it difficult for him to be a real presence in the area and harder to pick out. He was able to draw a spectacular save from Luke Daniels during the first half, but even this came from him being too far away from goal for the original cross. As the focal point of the attack, he needs to be easier to pick out. His positioning did improve during the second half, but he just needs to be involved as much as possible.

4. Swindon struggle to play out when pressed.

Much like in the second half against Crewe Alexandra a few days earlier, Town found it difficult to work the ball forwards when Forest Green pressed high. The hosts looked to stifle the back three’s options by defending as a 424. With Swindon building out with the three centre-backs and McEachran, this meant that all were often covered. Other than a few occasions when they were able to play one-touch football and escaped, it often ended in a long ball they were not able to retain or sloppy passing that gave Forest Green the ball in appetising areas.

5. Town need to get slicker in possession.

We have seen in fits and starts what Swindon can do when they move the ball quickly and accurately. However, with the new system still in the early stages of its development, it is not happening often enough. All too often Town would cede possession cheaply, hampering them in attack and defence. This meant that when they had a man extra, they still had a lot of trouble breaking down Forest Green as they were not precise enough with the ball against a low block. Blake-Tracy's wonder goal got them out of it, but they will need to keep working on this if they are to challenge.