ADVER Sport reporter Jonny Leighfield shares his opinion on the latest at Swindon Town Football Club.

Although Tuesday’s 1-0 defeat at Sunderland was disappointing, I felt the tactics deployed by John Sheridan were along the right lines.

Some people have rightly said that a negative, defensive style does not make for good football - but at this point in the season, that’s irrelevant.

Town need to pick up points by hook or by crook, and if they have to sit in and try to nick a game late on against a strong team, then that’s fine by me.

As I said, the tactics were almost right, but there were a couple of alterations which could have seen Town emerge with a well-deserved point.

Firstly, the players had to be braver in possession. Sunderland were missing key players in the centre of the pitch, and two of their defenders usually play further forward.

Sheridan’s men didn’t seem to want to hold onto the ball for longer than a few seconds before pumping the ball up to a fairly isolated Brett Pitman.

LISTEN: Have this story read to you by Jonny Leighfield by clicking on the play button below.

That brings me onto my second point. In a week where Swindon (as well as Dave Evans and I) will drive almost 1,000 miles to and from a pair of away fixtures, surely resting Pitman for games where Town will see more of the ball makes more sense?

As a side note, if anyone has any football trivia questions, please send them to sport@swindonadvertiser.co.uk - we ran out on the way up on Tuesday.

Hallam Hope should have been deployed up front as he has shown he is capable of winning aerial duels if necessary, and his other strengths lie in stretching the game as well as finishing.

Overall, Town’s display against Sunderland showed a grit and determination that has seldom been seen this term - so at least there’s something to build on.

Town travel to Accrington on Saturday looking to respond to that defeat and continue the positive momentum that has been building.

For Evso and I, we just need something else to pass the time as our resident photographer does not want to hear about the time I saw Accrington Stanley as a Northern Premier League team in 2001 again...