How Swindon Town salvaged a late draw against Gillingham

Grant Hall saw red on the 8th minute mark which threw Swindon Town’s game plan out the window on Saturday, and left Gavin Gunning forced to make changes.

Harry Smith was the saviour in the 93rd minute as his header salvaged a point against Gillingham, and this is how it was done.

Withstanding pressure in the first half

It’s always difficult to make huge changes without a real break in play, but the objective for Town throughout the first half was to withstand the pressure. The Gills' goal was very clear and that was to overload the hosts out wide as they pushed their wingbacks extremely high and functioned as wingers on the attack. Remeao Hutton would push up and sit as far as he could in some situations, whilst fellow wingback Jayden Clarke didn’t go as high but was still in a winger-like position. Goalscorer Tim Dieng would also play as a striker alongside Jacob Wakeling and Oliver Hawkins, giving the hosts plenty of options going forward.

To counter this, the Robins did not press Gillingham when they had the ball and played out the back, but instead kept their structure and shape because it was not worth the risk of being dragged out. The options going forward were now limited as striker Aaron Drinan dropped to right wingback which allowed the hosts to keep a back three. Going forward, midfielders Ollie Clarke and Danny Butterworth made multiple runs out wide, which was an attempt to fill the space they lost now being a man down.

Remeao Hutton and George Cox (Image: Andy Crook)

Second half substitutions to a real back three

Harrison Minturn replacing Clarke allowed Town to convert into a comfortable back three with Drinan pushing back up to his original striker position, with Tunmise Sobowale taking his spot. This made Swindon able to play out the back with a lot more ease as they didn’t have the possible liability of Drinan on the right and with only two midfielders, Will Wright was constantly picking up the ball and driving forward as Gillingham were hesitant to press for long periods of the second half and wanted to let Town come to them.

As the former Crawley player had the freedom to support the midfield it allowed Sobowale and Rosaire Longelo to push up without risk and create chances from out wide, Swindon’s main outlet of attack in the second half. This created the goal as Wright pushed up and played it wide to Sobowale, who set up Smith for the equaliser.

The role of the wingbacks

The wingbacks pushed up and added pressure onto the visitors throughout the second half. As Gillingham played a five to match the Robins, Gunning’s side needed to do as much as they could to attempt to have a good amount of options going forward despite being down to ten men.

When a crossing chance would arrive, one of the two would send the ball into the area whilst the other would support the forwards in the box. This would allow them to be in a good position to either try and attack the ball in the area or sit back on the edge which made it easier to track back and support the midfield.

Rosaire Longelo giving instructions (Image: Andy Crook)

Hard-working midfielders

Especially in the second half, a key to getting a draw was down to the role and effort of the midfielders, Gavin Kilkenny and Joel Cotterill. With just two players in the middle, it could be easy for the opposition to find gaps and space but the midfielders worked very hard to make sure that did not happen. Cotterill in particular, as the Swansea loanee came on with 20 minutes to go and made sure he was constantly dropping back just above the back three to become a passing option for the defenders whilst also getting forward, providing a lot of intensity in the middle.

Kilkenny had featured throughout the whole game so he was not able to have an influence like Cotterill in the late periods of the game and remained in the centre of the pitch throughout the game and was more of a neutral choice in midfield.