‘SOMETIMES in football, you’d rather be lucky than good.’

That is the view of Swindon Town manager Richie Wellens after reflecting on a week of games that saw his side dominate the opposition and lose before holding on for a win against a team that continuously wasted their best chances to score.

Swindon were unceremoniously dumped out of the FA Cup last week by Cheltenham in their FA Cup replay despite out-notching Michael Duff’s side six to one in the shots on target column.

Wellens’ men then took the lead against Mansfield before a combination of Steven Benda saves and poor finishing from their guests saw Swindon emerge on the right side of a 1-0 scoreline.

The Town boss accepted his players should have scored more goals on Saturday to take luck out of the equation, and has called on his attackers to increase their efficiency in order to gain unflinching control over future ties.

Wellens said: “On Saturday, Mansfield got in too many situations where on another day they score.

“We had it against Cheltenham in the replay last week. We were very, very good, but we got knocked out because we didn’t take our chances.

“If you don’t take your chances then you leave yourself open to that.

“Cheltenham got lucky, but we shouldn’t allow them to be lucky because we should take our chances – that’s what we could control.

“Against Mansfield, can we control being lucky? No. Can we control playing well? Yes. Can we control taking our chances? Yes.

“We took one, but I would have liked a couple more.”

Swindon might have considered themselves fortunate to take all three points on Saturday – especially given the fact Mansfield hit the post and saw two one-on-one opportunities saved.

Stags’ joint-top goalscorer Nicky Maynard was guilty of failing to take several presentable chances, and Wellens admitted that on another day the scoreline may not have favoured his side.

Wellens said: “We still allowed Mansfield to have a couple more opportunities than we wanted.

“That’s dangerous because they do have threats with the likes of Nicky Maynard and Andy Cook who can score goals.

“We got a bit lucky on a couple of occasions, but I would go back to Cheltenham at home where they only had one shot on target, and we concede.

“On Saturday, Mansfield had four or five good opportunities and we keep a clean sheet.

“Sometimes in football, you’d rather be lucky than good.”