Boss Garner hails ‘top performance’ in derby
FOREST GREEN SWINDON 0
BEN Garner hailed “incredible” Swindon Town following their hard-earned derby victory over Forest Green Rovers.
Second-half goals from Harry McKirdy and Tyreece Simpson settled the West Country derby in Saturday’s lunchtime kick off.
And to add insult to injury, Swindon’s former Rovers loan stopper Lewis Ward saved Josh March’s penalty after he fouled the striker in stoppage-time.
“It was a top performance. It was incredible from the players today,” said Garner, who had five players away on international duty.
“They’ve all worked ever so hard all week, so it was really pleasing to see that performance off the back of the week we’ve had.
“We said coming into the game we were confident we could come here and win the game even with five missing, and I’m delighted that proved to be the case.
“The attitude of the players, their work rate and application, it was all outstanding all week.
“That gives you confidence all week as a head coach going into the game – you’ve seen how hard they’ve worked and the preparation they’ve done. I sensed in the dressing room they were in a good place before the game – to a man, they were all outstanding.”
The Robins kept table-topping Rovers within touching distance as they slashed the gap to just four points after picking up successive League wins.
And Garner wants to use this victory as a building block for the rest of the campaign after Swindon’s stuttering start to the season. He added: “We’ve had a good start and now we need to push on and keep getting better.
“That’s what we want – we want people who are hungry to play and want to be in the team.”
Forest Green lost in League Two for only the second time this season, and boss Rob Edwards admitted he had no complaints.
He said: “We will learn from it and move on. I’ve challenged the players to go on another unbeaten run and give me a reaction like they did when we lost our only other game. Both teams had similar threats, it was two good teams. We had five clean sheets in a row before today and we were going to concede at some point.” Forest Green: McGee, Sweeney (Cargill 76), Moore-Taylor, Bernard, Wilson, Stevenson, Hendry,
Cadden, Aitchison (Young 69), Matt, Stevens (March 77). Not Used: Evans, Edwards, Diallo, Thomas.
Booked: Sweeney, Matt.
Swindon: Ward, Odimayo, Conroy, Crichlow-Noble,
Hunt, Gladwin (Lyden 90), Reed, Iandolo, Payne (East 90), McKirdy (Baudry 85), Simpson. Not Used:
Mitchell-Lawson, Aguiar, Parsons, Dabre.
Booked: McKirdy.
Goals: McKirdy 54, Simpson 81.
Attendance: 3,442.
Referee: Paul Howard (London).