Swindon Town Head Coach Jody Morris will be playing it safe in their last two games of the season, according to The Swindon Advertiser. With the Robins set to finish anywhere between ninth and 13th in the EFL League Two, Morris could have used the last fixtures to experiment with the starting line-up, formation and tactics in advance of the summer break.
After their narrow loss at home to promotion hopefuls Stevenage on Tuesday night, Swindon travel to Crewe Alexandra on Saturday, and host Crawley Town at the County Ground on Monday 8th May. In what could have been an opportunity to expand the squad ahead of pre-season, Morris is keen to maintain momentum and limit changes to the squad.
What’s been said?
Speaking to the Swindon Advertiser, Morris said:
“With two games to go, I want to keep continuing to build and trying to improve on where we’re at.”
Is Morris trying to prove a point?
Although Tuesday’s loss ended Swindon’s short return to form, which included wins over AFC Wimbledon and Bradford City, and holding Barrow to a draw, Morris will be keen to see whether they can grab some last minute points, especially given that Swindon claimed that they should have been awarded at least four penalties. Wins at Crewe and at home against Crawley could take them into ninth, depending on the outcome of other games, and Morris will be hoping that a top-ten finish may go some way to increasing fans’ confidence in his abilities, and restoring their faith in him ahead of the 23-24 campaign.
Injuries force squad changes
Despite his assertions that he has no plans to make any significant changes for the trip to Gresty Road, first team injuries, including Jonny Williams and Tom Brewitt will mean that there will be new faces in his starting lineup. However, any changes are likely to be approached with significant caution. Charlie Austin made an impression from the bench on Tuesday, so he could well feature in the starting lineup, in common with other players from Tuesday’s roster of substitutes (Minturn replaced an injured Hewitt).
Writer’s view
Although it seems like a good opportunity to give some rarely seen squad players a run out, and Morris has said that 19-year-old defender Harrison Minturn might feature, I think the allure of a top-ten finishing league position is the real impetus for this. Morris has come under significant criticism since his January arrival for Swindon’s performance – at the time of Scott Lindsey’s departure they were safely in the playoff positions, and he will be hoping that the fans and Board alike will feel more confident if he can replicate recent successes in these final two games of the season to get them as far up the table as possible. Given Swindon’s complaints about refereeing decisions and the narrow nature of their loss against Stevenage, they’ll be keen to add to their league wins achieved before Tuesday night to close out the season.
