Ian Holloway said that he plans to have Swindon Town change their style in an attempt to improve their poor record on the road.
Saturday’s 4-0 defeat to York City was Swindon’s second away loss by that scoreline in their last five League Two games, stretching back to last season.
Those two results are not anomalies, as Town have also lost 3-0 twice in those five, with the other being the goalless draw at Northampton Town, during which Swindon did not have a shot on target.
The run of poor away form has been going on all year, as Holloway’s side have won just five and drawn three of their 18 away matches across all competitions.
After the defeat at York, Holloway said he would be “looking at everything” to address the stark gap between Swindon’s home and away performances.
Having spent the weekend reflecting on matters, Holloway said that he decided to play in a more conservative way on the road to help get results.
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He said: “We're having a new plan away from home. And you could say I should have been doing that anyway.
“I tried to get the momentum from the home games to carry over into the away games to nick one goal and then sit in.
“I don't like sitting in. I don't think it suits us, but we're going to have to.
“We're going to have to learn how to do that because I can't leave that many spaces. That's what I learned from it.”
Swindon entered this season looking to bring in a new ethos of putting pressure on teams, defending aggressively from the front to shut the opposition down and create chances.
At home, this has worked very well, with the opener against Cheltenham Town and the third goal against Port Vale coming as a direct result of a high turnover.
However, this has been far less effective away from home, as Oldham cut Swindon apart as they were too open, and York were able to play through their initial pressure and attack at will.
Holloway still wants to focus on the fast attacking football that he has developed, which suits the speedy attackers he has brought in, but the emphasis on committing so heavily to pressing will be tempered on away trips to leave Town less open at the back.
This will get a stern test straight away, as Swindon head to Salford City this weekend.
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