LATE ROBINS POWER BACK
SWINDON’S chairman-turned-manager Lee Power felt his side showed glimpses of their former selves as they came from two goals down to earn a draw with Coventry.
Power disposed of the services of former manager Mark Cooper last week, following an alarming slump in form which saw the Robins drop into the League One relegation zone, inserting himself as caretaker-manager.
And the former Norwich and Peterborough forward secured his first point in charge, as Ben Gladwin and Nicky Ajose both scored in the final five minutes to peg back Coventry, who were seemingly coasting to victory thanks to efforts from Romain Vincelot and Marcus Tudgay.
Power stressed his delight at the style on show from Swindon and insisted that the form which took the Wiltshire outfit to the play-off final in May will return in the not-too-distant future.
“Even the fans can see there’s light and that their old team is coming back,” said Power, who watched from the stands as coach Luke Williams directed proceedings from the dug-out for Swindon.
“I think this is the day where our season’s started.
“It’s the first time this season that we’ve passed the ball the Swindon way.
“We’ve still got a lot of work to do and we’ve put ourselves in a vulnerable position but all the lads in the dressing room know the season starts now.
“We dominated the game for 70 minutes. I think Coventry will be one of the strongest teams this season.
“We held our own and we made the substitutions to try to win the game.
“Very quickly we find ourselves one down, we could have folded and we could’ve been beaten three or four-nil but the lads put their heads down.
“When we are where we are then things don’t go your way but the most pleasing thing is to come back and get a point and most definitely the performance. I’m so proud and pleased with the lads that they’ve done that.”
After a goalless first half Vincelot tapped home Coventry’s opener in the 66th minute, before Tudgay prodded in the rebound after his initial penalty was saved by Lawrence Vigoruoux, putting the Sky Blues in control with 11 minutes left.
However, Gladwin thumped past Reice Charles-Cook from 15 yards and Ajose netted from the spot to earn Swindon a draw.
Coventry boss Tony Mowbray said: “We’re all hugely frustrated at the result. We’ll have to use it as a lesson on how to see games out.
“We have done it pretty well this season but that was a hugely disappointing result for us on the back of a lot of hard work in the first 80 minutes.
“We knew it was going to be a tough match but we got ourselves 2-0 to the good but then proceeded to hand them a way back into the game. It’s disappointing for the supporters who travelled up in great numbers.
“There are two home games coming up and we have to win after draws away.”