Swindon Town

LUKE Williams has called on his team to re-discover their competitive edge after two heavy defeats over the Easter period.

With Fleetwood the visitors to SN1 tomorrow afternoon, Town’s Head Coach highlighted the importance of a return to a winning mentality against the Cod Army.

“We need to get over this period we’ve gone through,” he told the media. “Getting beaten heavily by Wigan is one thing but then it’s a completely different state of affairs getting beaten so heavily by Scunthorpe who we should be able to compete against far more easily than against Wigan. I think it shows that, mentally, there has been some scarring there and some players have not been able to get that Wigan performance out of their heads. It’s part of learning to be a tough professional and be able to bounce back very quickly. It’s now a case of the players remembering they’ve been very competitive and they’ve won lots of games in recent weeks it’s about getting back to believing what they can do before this game.

“This is all about us - can we get back to what we’ve been? We showed tremendous character over the weeks. We’ve come from behind in games to steal all three points, we’ve come from behind in games against very strong opposition to draw a game, we’ve kept clean sheets home and away and we’ve showed that we’ve got all the tools in the bag there to get points in various different circumstances. This has been a shocking period, this last week that’s surprised us all. This is about getting back to what we think is a more winning mentality.”

Finally, Williams was asked to provide an update on team news ahead of Saturday’s clash: “I’d love to say there has been (a miraculous recovery) but everybody is where they should be in terms of their recovery time,” he replied. “No one has made a huge leap forward and nobody has taken a step backwards. The boys are all working very hard to make sure they get back as quickly as they possibly can.”