Change at the top sees Town win after 106 long days
Ink Sports Focus - Interim head coach Gavin Gunning switches it up to secure a 2-0 win against Bradford
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Every Monday will now be our new Ink Sports Focus led by STFC reporter Sam Morshead.
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Welcome to Gunningball
By STFC writer Sam Morshead
Swindon Town began life under interim head coach Gavin Gunning with an important and morale-boosting win over Bradford City at the County Ground, playing a very different sort of football to that during the Michael Flynn era.
Notwithstanding the caveat that Town came up against a bafflingly bad Bradford side – a hodgepodge of tree-trunk defenders and indecisive forwards – this was a hugely encouraging step in the right direction after three miserable months.
Perhaps the most damning charge that was labelled against Flynn was a refusal to try something new: regardless of the sequence of results, or the number of goals conceded, Flynn committed to a roving back five whose defensive shape resembled waveform and who were tied too tightly to the mantra of building from the back at all times.
Gunning immediately enforced changes, switching to a four with two central defenders, an obviously more rigid line, and full-backs who, while not reined in completely, offered defensive stability out wide.
It all added up to a first clean sheet for 106 long days.
Conor McCarthy, making his debut on loan from Barnsley, was pivotal to the success, barely making a mis-step across 90 minutes and dominating in the air, in the tackle, and in possession.