Mark Kennedy explained the decision to start Aaron Drinan over Paul Glatzel during the opening game of the season against Chesterfield on Friday.

In the big call in the starting line-up at the SMH Group Stadium, Drinan got the nod over the former German youth international, something which had been hinted at in pre-season when he frequently started alongside Harry Smith.

Drinan started the game, much to the surprise of many fans, although he was replaced by Glatzel prior to Will Wright scoring a stunner to level the scores and earn Swindon an opening night point away from home following Armando Dobra’s opener in the first half.

Speaking after the game, Kennedy explained why he opted for the Irish striker in his line-up from the off against Chesterfield.

He said: “I am very lucky because I have got three outstanding strikers and I was just saying before that you could pick any two of those three and it wouldn’t bother me, I think the three of them are excellent.

“Huge credit because I thought Harry was outstanding tonight, I thought Aaron was outstanding as well.

“Paul deserves so much credit because he was bitterly disappointed not to play, it was purely tactical from something we talked about and I thought we executed it very well.

“His attitude and how he took the disappointment, how he responded to our conversation, how he respected it, and ultimately you have to go and back it up.

“He deserves a huge amount of credit but I think that Swindon are in a lucky position because we have got three very good forwards.”

Glatzel had been shifted into midfield for parts of Town’s final two pre-season friendlies, although speaking before the game, Kennedy said that was not something that he planned to utilise in competitive fixtures.

He said: “It was more through necessity than anything, we are light in midfield, so we need bodies in there.

“The biggest thing was that I was really keen to get Glatz, Harry, and Aaron minutes on Saturday [against Wycombe Wanderers], so it was trying to find a way to get them all minutes, so there was a physical element to that.

“Paul is an outstanding striker, he scores a lot of goals, and he has proven that in pre-season.

“He is a striker for us but he has the capability and the versatility to play in different positions, which is a compliment to him.”