Town Head Coach Luke Williams is still expecting MK Dons to play an expansive brand of attacking football when the two sides meet tomorrow.
Swindon head to Stadium MK on Friday (7.45pm Kick-Off) for their final game of 2016 and will be hoping to round off the year on a high by claiming what would be a vital three points against a Dons side who are also battling at the wrong end of the table.
“They’ve got to gather themselves again and have another go at going up,” Williams said.
“There’s maybe a hangover from being relegated and that negative feeling that stays with a group sometimes. They’ve struggled to bounce back immediately but there’s still a long way to go and they can certainly get their act together and make a charge up the table.
“I don’t know a great deal about Robbie Neilson and we’ll really look to see how he puts his stamp on the team in the coming weeks and months. I’m sure we’ll find out a lot more about his style during the 90 minutes on the touchline.
“I expect them to still play an attractive brand of football because most of the players are comfortable playing in that type of way, so there’s a good chance that they will be a very slick team again with the ball and cause you a lot of problems by moving the ball around quickly."
Williams thought there were more signs of promise from Luke Norris and Jermaine Hylton against Millwall on Boxing Day, and feels it won’t be long before things start to click for his strikers.
“Jermaine has shown his pace, we’re finding him earlier and we’re using the channels more to play to his strengths – that has worked really well,” he continued.
“Luke is still showing us that he’s got so much potential and he makes a fantastic run against Millwall, the touch is the perfect touch but the strike at goal just drifted past the post and that’s the bit that is going to click at some point for us.
“We need that to happen sooner rather than later.”
Williams also reflected on the defeat to Millwall earlier this week and admitted that his side failed to threaten their guests enough on the day.
“We played okay but we didn’t manage to secure possession high up the pitch and really open Millwall up,” he added.
“It was too easy to break against us and you look at the stats of the game, Millwall had more of the ball than us and they had far more chances to score than we had, so it wasn’t a good enough performance.
“Playing a few passes isn’t important unless you dominate and create chances to score goals.
“Lee Gregory is a fantastic footballer, he’s a goalscorer and Steve Morison is the perfect partner to play with him.
“The second goal, to be able to wind up to really make clean, clean contact with a volley inside the box is very disappointing but Gregory had to do more for the first goal and he’s a talented boy, but the second goal even for an average striker is food and drink really.”
