‘Worst I’ve seen us play” – Ian Holloway reeling as Swindon bottle two-goal lead against Grimsby

‘Worst I’ve seen us play” – Ian Holloway was left reeling as Swindon bottle a two-goal lead against Grimsby on Saturday.

The hosts were two up within 13 minutes thanks to Ollie Palmer’s header and Billy Bodin’s powerful finish. But then Grimsby fought back with Kieran Green getting one back on 22 minutes. Then the Mariners grabbed an equaliser four minutes before half time when Danny Rose converted a penalty after George McEachran was brought down.

The result saw Swindon miss the chance to return to the top of League Two, now in 2nd and a point behind leaders Walsall who beat Harrogate. Grimsby meanwhile are 9th with 26 points from 17 games.

Holloway said, per Swindon Advertiser: “It was absolute rubbish, to be honest. I am disappointed with myself for challenging a decision last week and I wish that I hadn’t, because I wanted to be down there in the first half.

“That was absolute garbage. We didn’t run, we didn’t press, we didn’t close, and we didn’t deserve to be two up.

“We could have been 3-2 down and they should have had another penalty, it just didn’t look like my team.

“The second half was so much better, but we wasted 45 minutes being awful.

“Why were we taking so long at the back? Why are we not pressing their goalie? Why aren’t we running? Why aren’t we doing what I believe makes us a good team?

“Maybe they don’t know what that is yet, but that was boring, that was awful, and that was garbage, in my opinion.

“If I could have gotten to my car, then I would have gone home, but I was so far in the back of the stand in the little cubby hole.

“I can’t believe what I have seen. It did not look like my team, it was a bit like Colchester.”

“We were 1-0 up after seven minutes and it was the weirdest goal that I have ever seen, and then before you know it, we were 2-0 up.

“Whether they thought it was all about relaxing, I don’t know. Whenever we got it, we just went back to our goalie. I just don’t understand why we were mucking around with it back there. Why are we going into Ollie Palmer?

“We have to run, we have to chase, we have to press. That front line did not do it, and the midfield did not do it.

“I can understand how the fans felt. We were 2-0 up, and nobody was making a sound, because I was bored.

“We weren’t pressing and we weren’t closing, and I don’t get it, because we knew how good they were.

“The lads have got to realise that to win a game, you have to do something that starts with an ‘R’ and ends in an ‘N’ and has a ‘U’ in the middle.

“You have got to run, and I don’t think we ran enough.”

Grimsby’s David Artell said, per Grimsby Live: “We gave them two ridiculously soft goals from the first two set pieces of the game. And then we absolutely dominated the first half.

“We didn’t want half-time to come, and then the second half was much more even. They’re probably rueing a couple of big chances that they missed.

“We missed a couple ourselves, but when you come to the top of the league and you’re 2-0 down after 13 minutes, you have to be pleased with getting something.

“I still think we were much the better team. I thought we dominated the game for large parts, against a decent team. Swindon are a good team.

“A draw is a fair result, and if we don’t give away those soft goals, we probably go on to win. We’ve been good for a number of weeks without winning. I’m not worried. They are top of the table and they’ve only won one in five. That’s the kind of league it is this year.”

Here’s how fans reacted with Ian Holloway reeling at Swindon bottling a two-goal lead against Grimsby…

@AndrewCarn1: Yea well said IH. The penalty was a disaster of epic proportions defensively leading up to it. But as IH says we are nowhere near as good as we should or could be… Still second 😉

@Scribblemilk: Well perhaps stop playing hoof ball and bypassing the two in midfield maybe don’t start a formation that statistically gives us our lowest pts per game, maybe dont blame the players and look at your own failings!

@LegallySwin: Two points dropped, all because of decisions we made. 2-0 up we backing off for should’ve put them to the sword. Are we lacking in mentality? Playing midfielders at CB when we have CBs on bench is another confusing decision. We are so lucky other teams aren’t on good runs

@l1amstfc: decent point but being 2-0 up and not winning is so poor.

@STFC_Noah1: Get tabor playing more he was good today

@wfcliam_: Thanks for keeping top spot warm.

@Swindunum: Very poor performance. Grimsby were better than us. We definitely need to improve if we’re gonna go up. Why is he playing midfielders in defence when we have to cb’s on the bench? Weird.

@leefer3: No excuses a draw was about right today, I thought. But that ref today was poor… as were his assistants #stfc

@hussla4: Delighted to hear IH call that out. Arrogance & laziness. Have to bin 5-2-3 with “wide forwards” in favour men around Palmer & passing forward at pace with direct running. Once JT/Prince were around him & running we were much better. That starting 11 has to be better & work #STFC

@RichardSTFC94: Another disappointing draw “but we’re 2nd” – We’re dropping so many points, need to be careful, could come back to bite us! Tabor looks a lot better, might be a big chance for him going forward

@CamelSaunders: In the league we not played well for months stand out game. Crewe away 3-0 aug 30th. Barrow away and Bromley at home in sept both ok performances standard L2 “got the job done“. We have been poor since Salford away including a win a Newport. But still somehow 2nd! #stfc