MANAGER John Sheridan praised the impact of his substitutes after Swindon Town came from a goal down to beat Oxford United 2-1 at the Kassam Stadium on Saturday.

With Swindon facing the prospect of another derby-day defeat, Sheridan sent on Tom Broadbent and Diallang Jaiyesimi in the 60th minute in a bid to turn the game in the visitors’ favour.

The towering centre-back was told to play up front in a brave move by the Town boss, but the tactical chance paid off in a huge way as Broadbent turned home the equaliser in the 84th minute.

And seven minutes later, Broadbent was involved again as he flicked the ball on for Tyler Smith to glance home the winner.

Sheridan conceded Broadbent was unlucky not to start the game after a couple of bright showings beforehand, but said he was delighted with the response of the defender after the difficult decision was made to start him on the bench.

Sheridan said: “Tom was unlucky not to start because he played really well against Lincoln, but I made that decision.

“He’s part of a team, and if you’re a footballer and the manager is asking you to go on and do a job, it doesn’t really matter where you’re going to play, you’re just going to try and influence the game, and he did exactly that.

“Jack Payne and DJ did the same. I want people to be disappointed they’re not in the team, but at the same time, they should have the right attitude to come on and help the team.”

Sheridan said he would never normally make such a controversial change, but felt with the lack of other options, he was left with little choice.

Injuries to Joel Grant and Mathieu Baudry had already forced the Town boss' hand, but when he was allowed to make a change of his own accord, Sheridan admitted his tactical tweak came off better than expected.

He said: “I just felt with the lack of physical presence in the team and with us chasing the game, it might work.

“It’s not something I usually do, putting a centre-half up top, but I just felt the ball was coming back at us too easily and we were running out of options.

“I thought we were still in the game in the early part of the second half, but I just thought I’d put Tom on as a physical presence to try and cause them a few problems and to try and help Tyler Smith.

“Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t – luckily for us it’s worked.”