Swindon Town were roundly beaten on the road as they fell to a 2-1 defeat against Port Vale in League Two.

Town slipped to their first away defeat of the season as George Byers and Brandon Cover both struck prior to Will Wright’s late free kick that ultimately counted for little.

So, how did the players fare as individuals at Vale Park?

(Image: Newsquest)

GK: Jack Bycroft – 6

Bycroft made some big saves and takes to keep the score level as long as it was before the players in front of him conspired to leave a man free from a corner and then lose the ball on the edge of the box.

RCB: Harrison Minturn – 5

I was interested by Mark Kennedy’s thoughts post-match as I thought defensively he played pretty well. His physical style helped to overcome his size deficit to Jayden Stockley a lot of the time, although he did get a bit panicked on the ball at times.

CB: Will Wright – 6

Wright was very interesting talking after the match about playing out from the back, something he generally did well and did not get rushed by the home side. Defensively he was able to make a few good interventions, but Town were put under so much pressure it was always going to tell.

LCB: Miguel Freckleton – 2

You don’t want to kick a man whilst he is down as the error evidently affected Freckleton, but it was a very poor moment from him (although it did not really matter). The Sheffield United man’s tendency to be rushed when pressed came up again and his long balls were consistently aimless.

RWB: Tunmise Sobowale – 3

I was very disappointed with Sobowale as I believed his physical running could be a big asset in this game, but we only saw it once or twice. When you are that under the cosh, having someone that difficult to tackle could have been a big asset but it was never utilised and defensively his positioning was suspect.

CM: Joel Cotterill – 4

I think there was a bit of fight from Cotterill but he was just too anonymous. It felt like after Newport County he had gotten away from a slow start until he had failed to offer enough in the last two performances.

CM: Gavin Kilkenny – 4

Kilkenny put himself about and on the odd occasions when Swindon got on the ball, he moved it in his typical strong fashion but defensively he looked out of place. Port Vale were easily able to come through the middle and nobody took charge.

LWB: George Cox – 3

Another player who was simply a non-factor. Nobody loves crossing more than Cox and looking at the stats he did it more than I remember but none of them were dangerous or looked likely to have a teammate on the end of them.

CAM: Danny Butterworth – 6

Aside from the garbage time free kick, all of Swindon’s best attacking moments came from Butterworth getting on the ball and driving. He was the best weapon on the counter and probably deserved at least one assist.

ST: Kabongo Tshimanga – 3

I have an element of sympathy for Tshimanga as four shots in four starts is rough going for a player who could be a premiere poacher at this level. But at a certain point, you want a player to start taking charge of their own destiny a bit more.

ST: Aaron Drinan – 4

Much like Tshimanga, he was isolated for the majority of the game and aerially he was not helping Town out when they tried to play longer. But at least he started to get into better areas and had two decent efforts. It wasn’t good but it was something.

Substitutes:

Nnamdi Ofoborh – 5

Ofoborh was a needed change to add some more physicality to the midfield and he did offer a bit of it and make things a slightly tougher for Vale in that area.

Paul Glatzel – 4

What I loved about Glatzel last season was that he was trusted to be part of everything but he isn’t getting into the game nearly as much at the moment. Seven touches in 22 minutes from an attacking change when you are searching for something is not enough. He has so much more to offer.

Sean McGurk – N/A

Joel McGregor – N/A