Roberto Di Matteo

By Oli
March 7 2009

Dons manager Roberto Di Matteo praises Swindon's performance in Saturday's 1-1 draw at the County Ground, but admits that while the Dons did not deserve to win the game, they had the chances to do so and need to find a clinical edge in front of goal.

Dons fell behind to Billy Paynter's header and while they hit back shortly afterwards through Aaron Wilbraham, Swindon dominated most of the game. The Dons still had a golden chance to take three points however when Luke Chadwick hit the post from one of several troublesome Jude Stirling throw-ins, and Di Matteo feels the Dons need to start taking the chances that will see them win games like this, even when they are not fully deserved.

Roberto: "I have to say they played well. They put us under pressure, but I also feel that with a bit of luck, we maybe could have won the game at the end."

Question: "Chadwick hit the post [at the end] - not that you'd have cared, but do you feel that would have been harsh on Swindon?

R: "Maybe, but there have been plenty of times where we've been hard done by, and didn't deserve to lose two points, or lose the game, and the opposition just takes it. You don't think much about that, you just try to win your games."

Q: "You gifted them a fair bit of space on more than one or two occasions, even though the defence has been pretty tight over the last few weeks; what do you put that down to? They had two or three excellent opportunities."

R: "They have some good players. [Simon] Cox was floating around and creating a few problems in the first half. In the second half I thought we defended much better, but they played very well today and put us under pressure. On the other hand I was happy with the reaction after we conceded."

Q: "You got the goal back pretty quickly, and obviously you alluded to the Chadwick chance; do you feel you could have done better?"

R: "Well we tried, you want your players to score. But before that we also had a shot from Albie [Wilbraham] where the defender basically blocked it with his hands, otherwise he would have, at least, hit the target, so you feel a little bit unfairly treated in that sense."

Q: "Dean Lewington, your captain, saw red for two bookable offences; one looked like dissent, and the second one a bit of a lunge; what was your view?"

R: "Yeah, the first one was for dissent so there's not much you can say about it, and the second one probably was a booking. He was a bit late in the tackle and so he had to book him.

Q: "Are you disappointed he was sent off for effectively backchatting the referee?"

R: "Yes I am, and we always tell the players just to get on with the game, you're not going to make the referee change his mind."

Q: "You're now three points behind Peterborough after they won today at Hartlepool; you've still got the games in hand, but you need to keep the pace with them don't you?"

R: "We just have to try and win our games, that's what we always try to do, and at the end of the day if our players try to play, be positive and put a performance in, that's all we can ask from the players."

Q: "You made a tactical change; you've been playing the one up front in Wilbraham on his own, but today you brought Sam [Baldock] back in; do you feel that worked, switching to two?"

R: "As I have always said, it's not much about the system, it's the way they apply themselves to the system; we started like that and then tried to change a few things, just to see if we could have a bit more control of the game, which we did in the second half. We had a bit more possession in the second half but they played well, credit to Swindon."

Roberto was speaking to BBC Three Counties Radio.