Swindon Town players rated after defeat at Crewe Alexandra

Elliott Nevitt and Charlie Austin both netted in the first half before Courtney Baker-Richardson bagged the winner for Crewe 20 minutes from time.

So, how did the players get on as individuals at the Mornflake Stadium?

GK: Jack Bycroft – 6

I was a bit worried in the first 15 minutes when Bycroft came for and made a bit of a mess of two corners and was sending most of the balls at his feet into the shadow realm. Then he made one great take above a Crewe forward and he settled down. He was calm and made the catches and saves that he should make, and his kicking was exceptional. His long kicks were unerringly accurate, and he very nearly played Dawson Devoy through on goal from the edge of his own box.

RCB: Udoka Godwin-Malife – 7

Godwin-Malife was Swindon’s best attacking player in this game. That is a less ridiculous statement than normal in this team as Michael Flynn asks his defenders to get forward and Godwin-Malife was excellent at that all afternoon. The goal and all of Town’s best attacks came from him beating a man and making a good pass.

CB: Tom Brewitt – 4

Brewitt was reasonable in his own match-up in the first half but he is the leader in the middle of the defence and those around him were anything but organised. Then his marker escapes him at the key moment to score the opening goal.

LCB: Harrison Minturn – 3

Minturn was better when he moved into the middle in the second half but it was a rough first half from him. I thought that Aaron Rowe played well but Minturn was just nowhere near him all half and Swindon should have been punished worse than they were. After the break, he was better and dealt fairly well with Nevitt, but the more mobile forwards gave him a huge amount of trouble.

RWB: Tyrese Shade – 5

Shade’s link-up with Godwin-Malife was pretty good throughout this game and he seemed the most intent on getting the ball forward among the attacking players. He did well to create the first goal and it showed once again that when he is decisive then he can be very dangerous.

CM: Saidou Khan – 2

The space in the first half was clearly behind Williams Kokolo, but the man tasked with marking the player who kept running into it was Khan. When Crewe were running all over Swindon Khan looked dazed and confused and he couldn’t even begin to stop what was going on.

CM: Liam Kinsella – 4

Kinsella’s energy was useful alongside the additional energy that the new boys added and that gave Swindon a bit of a lift. He had the slightly easier defensive task of marking Conor Thomas and his was a fairly standard Kinsella performance, plenty of endeavour but not a lot of output.

LWB: Williams Kokolo – 5

What Kokolo did well in this game was that he was a constant outlet on the left side. He was always open and could get Swindon up the field, but ultimately that only ever created one real chance for Devoy after a filthy Cruyff turn. With Austin more consistently in the middle, the crosses needed to be better.

CAM: Dawson Devoy – 4

This was an interesting debut for Devoy as I felt that he passed the ball nicely and moved off it when he did so and without the ball, he has the right attitude of being desperate to get it back. He has the dawg in him. Hopefully, game time will help him improve as he didn’t look like he would create a lot on his own.

ST: Paul Glatzel – 5

There were plenty of promising signs of Glatzel, his link-up play was refined and his movement off the ball was very impressive. The problem he had was he never had the ball near the Crewe goal to show what he could do in the danger zone.

ST: Charlie Austin – 6

Two goals in two since Dan Kemp and Jake Young left, so Austin does seem to be stepping up that part of his game. He still did the thing where he goes and plays somebody else’s position, this time it was left back, which shows he can see the problems but it would be more productive if he said that to his teammates rather than just filling in.

Subs:

Frazer Blake-Tracy – 6

Blake-Tracy showed what Swindon were missing in the second half. He joined Godwin-Malife in doing a good job of driving Town forward and his leadership skills at the back helped mean that Crewe were having a far more difficult time trying to create chances.

Jake Cain – 5

Cain did well when he came on, he was busy and moved the ball around quite nicely but it was not quite enough to create the chances that Swindon needed.

Rushian Hepburn-Murphy – 5

This was the Hepburn-Murphy experience wrapped into a 20-minute substitute appearance. He added that spark that his pace always will and probably both made and failed to take the best chance that Swindon created in the second half. 

George McEachran – N/A