MacDonald pays tribute to Miller and Ward (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

MacDonald pays tribute to Miller and Ward

6:00am Monday 4th March 2013 in Sport By Sam Morshead

Kevin MacDonald looks on after Coventry take the lead

KEVIN MacDonald paid tribute to the work done by Tommy Miller and Darren Ward in their roles as player caretaker-managers after watching his team win 2-1 at Coventry in his first game in charge on Saturday.

Having only taken charge of the Robins’ first-team affairs on Friday morning, MacDonald got off to the perfect start as Swindon manager with a dramatic late win on debut, as goals from Andy Williams and Ward in the final five minutes at the Ricoh Arena kept Town in touch with the top two.

After a tricky 10 days, during which Miller and Ward had been in charge at the County Ground in the interim, MacDonald was delighted to start life as Swindon boss with a win.

“The way the players reacted was testament to how Tommy Miller and Darren Ward did in the interim because it wasn’t easy for them,” he said.

“You always know the way that football is and the way that the players are in this team that there will always be a chance, even in the last minute. The players were getting a bit frustrated and a bit worried but we got the three points in the end and that’s the most important thing.

“I thought it was fantastic for Darren and I think you saw it released a lot of joy and pressure that he’d been under. It’s not easy being a caretaker manager, far less being a caretaker player-manager.

“The two of them were outstanding, especially the substitutes. We’re delighted for young Nathan (Thompson) because after making a mistake to let them get in front he reacted fantastically well.”

MacDonald also saluted a tremendous save made by Town keeper Wes Foderingham from Leon Clarke’s header when Coventry were still 1-0 in front.

“It was a wonderful save,” he said. “I don’t think you’ll see many better saves than that in the whole of the weekend. The kid has done very, very well as well.”