How Swindon Town can make the difference against Accrington Stanley

The Robins beat Colchester United in extra time to get to this stage, whilst Stanley avoided an upset with a comfortable 2-0 victory against Rushall Olympic.

With nothing to separate the two sides in the 2-2 meeting on the 16th of November, what can Swindon do to make the difference this time round?

Don’t take short goal kicks

One thing we learnt from the last meeting in Lancashire is that short goal kicks were a trap. When Jack Bycroft would play it short to the centre-backs, Accrington would activate their press and box Town in, meaning possession would be lost because of mistakes under pressure or having to play the ball long.

It was quickly learned in the game that the risk of short goal kicks would make Ian Holloway’s team their worst own enemy and make Stanley’s job a lot easier. With going direct however, it simply means the battles in the air must be won and if you’re second to the ball, the whole game becomes a struggle.

Three in midfield is the way forward

It would be the right choice to go with three in midfield with Danny Butterworth starting. Morecambe were able to play through Gavin Kilkenny and Nnamdi Ofoborh easily on the weekend and not only will that be a problem at the Wham Stadium, it was also visible that two did not work in the reverse fixture either.

With three in midfield, it destroys Accrington’s man-marking structure, which will give Swindon extra freedom around the pitch. If you disrupt that shape, it helps you play out of the press and provides more space.

When Sean McGurk dropped back in his first half, there was rarely an Accrington player near him as they hadn’t prepared tactically to adapt their structure to mark an extra midfielder. If Butterworth plays in the middle, it will bring many benefits with space and will help in transition.

A real scenario from the 2-2 draw which shows the space McGurk had (Image: Tactical Board Online) The space that opens up if they were to press McGurk (Image: Tactical Board Online)

Set piece practice will come in handy

As obvious as this point is, it’s clear that John Doolan’s team will continue to target Town from set pieces. It’s a huge reason why goals are leaking through and it was stated after the game by captain Farrend Rawson that it was pre-planned to attack these weak spots.

“Ged [Brannan] and the gaffer [Doolan] pointed out that that was a weakness of theirs and we have to take full advantage and clearly we did that.”

Holloway has said on numerous occasions that he will train his team to get better at these situations and it will be obvious whether it’s paid off or not on the weekend. If you nullify the issues from set pieces, everything changes.

Don’t be afraid to put Accrington under pressure

The hosts have looked disorganised in their area all season, so firing crosses into the box and putting them under pressure could do the Robins the world of good. Their goalkeeper William Crellin looks to be short of confidence and giving him and their defence work to do in the box could be key to forcing mistakes. Many goals have come from a lack of communication in the area and it is a weak spot of theirs.

We fired in 20 crosses in the previous fixture, which is an average figure. Players like Cox and Joel McGregor do have the quality to put dangerous balls into the area and if you aim for Harry Smith, it could spark some magic.