Trialist Will Randall, midfielder Michael Doughty and striker Kaiyne Woolery grabbed a goal each as Swindon Town ran out comfortable 3-0 winners over non-league neighbours Swindon Supermarine on Friday night.
In Town’s second pre-season fixture of the new campaign, Wellens’ men never looked in much danger of stretching into fourth gear as they used the annual meeting to get valuable game time before their warm weather training camp to Spain on Monday.
Randall’s rasping drive just before half-time gave Town the lead before Doughty converted a penalty that he had won himself midway through the second period.
Woolery rounded off the scoring in the final few minutes to ensure Town left the Webbswood Stadium full of confidence.
Wellens mixed his team selection up for both halves of the contest against Marine, with Nicolai Krastev, Daniel Ballard, Taylor Curran, Joe Romanski, Tyler Reid, Zeki Fryers, Frankie Sutherland, Cameron McGilp, Adam May, Will Randall and Quentin Ngakoutou starting the first 45 for Town.
Swindon initially set up in a 5-3-2 formation with Fryers, Romanski, Ballard, Curran and Reid across the back.
Sutherland operated in the holding role with May and McGilp either side. Ngakoutou and Randall started up front.
In a first half that certainly warmed up as time went on, the action only really started after half an hour.
Tyler Reid flashed a delivery across the face of goal with 15 minutes of the first half remaining before goalscorer Randall had a shot blocked.
Trialists Ngakoutou and Sutherland set their sights on more that one occasion without success before the first half concluded.
But it was Randall who scored the only goal of the first half after Adam May had a long-range effort tipped over.
The former Town alumni collected the ball from the resulting corner before lashing a powerful drive in off the bar to put Wellens’ men ahead at the break.
Krastev kept his place for the start of the second half before being replaced by Wil Henry while Bay Downing, Dion Conroy, Ellis Iandolo, Rob Hunt, Rob Lyons, Michael Doughty, Lawson D’Ath, Kaiyne Woolery, Scott Twine and Jerry Yates made an appearance in the second half as Wellens opted to get minutes into all of his players’ legs while using a 4-3-3.
The second 45 begun at a much higher tempo than the first and Town did have the ball in the back of the net shortly after the restart, only for the linesman to raise his flag against Yates.
Chances were very few and far between though – only Twine had a powerful drive beaten away by Horsell before 70 minutes had expired.
Up the other end, Stuart Fleetwood had a close-range try blocked before Brad Gray tried an acrobatic effort that went narrowly wide.
Town doubled their lead via the penalty spot with 20 minutes remaining after Doughty was fouled.
The midfielder picked himself up before cheekily chipping down the middle.
And with time set to expire, Kaiyne Woolery latched onto a through ball before rounding Horsell and rolling the ball into an unguarded net.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel