THERE was an excitement in the build-up to Swindon Town’s game with Walsall that Luke Williams had found a much-needed Plan B to kick life into their season.

Whether by fortune or not, a flat back four had seen Swindon land two consecutive clean sheets and things had a brighter outlook as everyone made their way into the cold October night last Tuesday.

However, maybe all isn’t miraculously cured just yet. Like three at the back, there are going to be flaws to this formation and Walsall exploited them well on Saturday.

Before the teams lined up at the County Ground, it was obvious that both were going to match up with 4-2-3-1 and it was of intrigue how it would play out.

As it turned out, in the early stages, it was as expected as both teams seemed to cancel each other out.

Swindon were happy to let Walsall occupy a larger percentage of the ball, while the Saddlers looked to play direct to avoid being caught out in possession and try to find a way of breaking down the Town back-line.

The result, a rather dull opening 15 minutes.

However, the chess game took a turn in the 17th minute when a inane move from Darnell Furlong led to a moment of brilliance from Erhun Oztumer and all of a sudden, Swindon were on the back foot.

As a result, Walsall were able to make there midfield five compact and their were suddenly two solid banks of players that Swindon had to work their way through to get back into the game.

Players like Conor Thomas and Nathan Thompson were looking up when on the ball and were finding very few spaces in front of them that weren’t occupied by light blue shirts.

While Swindon have become a bit more direct from the back, with Lawrence Vigouroux often using the width of the two full-backs, occupying positions wide on the halfway line, as an extra outlet, they are still reluctant to go long to Delfouneso.

Walsall knew this and without the threat of someone running in behind, the defence and midfield got closer and the space for Town’s players was at even more of a premium.