Swindon Town rounded off their pre-season with a morale-boosting 1-0 victory over Wycombe Wanderers to set them up for the start of the League Two season.

Jack Bycroft’s first-half heroics were followed by a fierce strike from Ollie Clarke in the second half to see Town down their League One opponents to send them off to Chesterfield with some confidence.

For one final time ahead of the serious action starting, what did this game tell us about this Swindon side ahead of Chesterfield?

Jack Bycroft should have earned the number one shirt.

There has been a lot of speculation this summer about what Swindon would do between the sticks this season after Bycroft did well but not spectacularly in the dumpster fire that was the 2023/24 Swindon defence. Some fans have said they felt Swindon needed a replacement for him and the club have not been quiet in their search for some competition. Although they ended up recovering, Town were shocking for 30 minutes on Saturday and needed Bycroft to stand up and even behind the man mountains of the Swindon defence you could see him. He made several top-drawer saves and continued to look solid and composed throughout the game, one slightly sticky moment being closed down by Richard Kone aside. He is the number one.

 

 

Joel Cotterill impressed on his debut.

Those who followed the live blog may be confused by this one but I thought he played really well. Much like everyone else, he started quite slowly as he felt his way into the match in a tough game to do so against a team like Wycombe. But his settling in lasted about 30 minutes and he played his way into the game. In the second half, he started to get on the ball and dictate the game from deep and he excelled in retaining possession. The goal came from a great run and pass of his and by the end of the game it looked like the midfield alchemy with him, Nnamdi Ofoborh, and Ollie Clarke might be Goldilocks. Plus, he wears low socks and ever since Harry McKirdy I have felt we always need at least one player with low socks.

Swindon need to stay calm with the ball.

Partially coinciding with Cotterill’s improvements, Swindon improved overall when they stayed more composed. As much as hoying it long to Harry Smith at every opportunity is a viable plan (ask Sutton United), Town were consistently better when they took more time over their play. The back three of Miguel Freckleton, Grant Hall, and Will Wright are all good on the ball and the way they switched from side to side opened up some space for Rosaire Longelo and Trialist A. Conversely, Wycombe seemed very happy when the long balls came and their defenders definitely had the measure of Aaron Drinan and Smith. Just because we can get it launched now doesn’t mean we have to.

Trialist A does not look to be the right fit.

I seem to be in the minority with this one, so feel free to discard this, but Trialist A/ Jeff King did not impress me. Defensively I thought he was struggling to contain Kieran Sadlier for the duration and it was too easy for Wycombe to thread balls in behind him. Then going the other way I feel with how Mark Kennedy wants to play, speed is going to be vital for the wing-backs and he lacks that. Tunmise Sobowale is still raw but I see him as a better option for this role and it blocks progression for Joel McGregor, so this wouldn’t be a signing that I would make.