GARNER: I NEED BETTER LEADERS
BEN Garner questioned his Swindon side’s leadership qualities after Exeter came from behind thanks to two goals in the final six minutes.
Joe Tomlinson’s opener looked to have set Swindon on course for victory before late strikes from Jevani Brown and Timothee Dieng turned the game on its head.
Garner said: “We’ve got to grow the leadership within the group and Mathieu Baudry, as it stands, is our only player over 30 years old.
“That’s something we have worked on from the start of the season and is something we are still trying to do. This season was never going to be plain sailing but we have to stay with the process.
“I think in the last two games before this we should’ve scored more goals. When you are playing well you have to take the points.
“That’s come back to haunt us and we have made this a tougher spell than it needed to be.”
Jake O’Brien denied Matt Jay a clear goalscoring opportunity in the eighth minute with his last-ditch block preventing the striker from grabbing his tenth of the season.
Tomlinson’s curling shot then tested goalkeeper Cameron Dawson, whilst Brown challenged the hosts’ defensive on countless occasions, but the match remained goalless at the interval.
Slick build-up play in the 54th minute ended with Harry McKirdy producing an acrobatic save from Dawson, before Tomlinson finally broke the deadlock minutes later with his shot nestling in a bottom corner.
Late drama saw the visitors pull themselves level through a stunning strike in the 85th minute as Brown netted from outside the box.
More misery was then heaped on the hosts in the closing stages as Dieng’s casual shot wrong-footed goalkeeper JoJo Wollacott and handed
Exeter a potentially unexpected three points on the road.
Exeter boss Matt Taylor enjoyed the performance that moved his side into the playoff places.
He said: “It was quite a good game of football, and in fairness to both teams it was in difficult conditions. And I did think that both teams were trying to play the game in the right way.
“It’s a fantastic stadium to play football in. The wind generally comes straight down the middle and it did have an effect. You saw some balls go straight up in the air and out of play.
“I was disappointed we went behind, it almost came out of nothing to a certain extent that neither team really created enough openings to be ahead in that game.
“From that point onwards, we had to somehow create space on the football pitch and almost allow Swindon to have more of the ball to keep them open in their shape or have more attacking bodies in the right positions.”
SWINDON TOWN: Wollacott 6, O’Brien 6, Cooper 7, Odimayo 6 (Mitchell-Lawson 90+1, 6), Hunt 6, Gladwin 6, Williams 6, Lyden 7 (Iandolo 67, 6), Tomlinson 8, Davison 7 (Barry 70, 6), McKirdy 6. Subs not used: Baudry, Ward, East, Aguiar. EXETER CITY: Dawson 7, Sweeney 7 (Coley 77, 7), Stubbs 7, Diabate 7, Key 7, Dieng 9, Collins 7, Caprice 6 (Sparkes 73, 6), Jay 7, Phillips 6 (Nombe 61, 7), Brown 8. Subs not used: Atangana, Taylor, Grounds, Brown.