BROWN WARNS OVER ‘SPOILERS’
PHIL Brown told his players they need to raise their game after being held to a dour draw by Oldham at the County Ground.
Veteran Matt Taylor was sent off for a professional foul in stoppage time as Swindon’s play-off push stalled.
Brown said: “It had the feel of a 1-0, for me. They came for a draw, so we had to be patient and that patience was nearly rewarded.
“We are going to have teams come here and frustrate us and we have just got to understand that we are Swindon Town in League Two.
“We have to accept that and we have to be better than that and we have to rise above that.
“That’s the challenge and ultimately, we didn’t do enough in the final third.
“I’m delighted with the defence and the team when we haven’t got the ball. I’m delighted with the mentality, in six months that work has certainly come through now with another clean sheet which is a foundation to build something upon.
“When you succeed at anything, you have to have a level of resilience, a level of grinding, a level of digging out. Today, it wasn’t a case of not playing well, it was a case of we didn’t create enough, but the resilience to dig ourselves out, and keep a clean sheet was something to admire.”
In a game where chances were sparse, Swindon came closest to open the scoring early on when Elijah Adebayo fired wide.
Home goalkeeper Luke McCor mick had to be on his mettle in the 14th minute to save Dan Gardner’s 25-yard free-kick.
Oldham’s veteran frontman Chris O’Grady also saw an effort deflected wide in a first half of few clear-cut chances. Rob Hunt should have put the Latics in front after a poor punch from McCormick, but could not hit the target.
McCormick also saved well from Ishmael Miller in the second half, while Gardner put another free-kick wide.
Taylor then put a 25-yard effort into the side-netting before being shown a straight red card for hauling down Christopher Missilou when he was through on goal.
Oldham manager Frankie Bunn was left frustrated by Taylor’s challenge denying his side the chance to take a welcome three points. He said: “It’s a professional foul, but the manner in which it was done beggars belief.
“It was a great goalscoring opportunity, even from the halfway line, as we had numbers in support of Christopher.
“Would we have done the same? Probably. I think we are the first team to keep a clean sheet against Swindon so it’s a good point away from home. You pick up the odd point here and there and you never know what ultimately that will do for us.
“The character was tremendous today. They have dug in at times. They didn’t really get through us.”