Michael Doughty said Swindon need to keep believing in the play-off dream until it is mathematically impossible to achieve, it after a third draw in a row left Town five points outside the top seven.
Doughty was on the scoresheet from the spot as the Robins drew 2-2 at Boundary Park against Oldham.
His penalty cancelled out George Edmundson’s opener for the Latics before Kyle Bennett put the visitors in front. Johan Branger-Engonne equalised for the home side with 20 minutes to play in a fiercely contested affair.
Doughty believes that even if the play-offs are out of reach the team’s progress in recent months is reason to be positive.
“Until, it’s mathematically impossible we need to keep believing – it takes one result and teams above us start to get a bit nervous. I think the thing that we need to stress is that the performances are so much better than where they were.
“I feel like the club is building something and getting some momentum.”
Doughty returned to the starting line-up for the first time since a training injury in February.
“Obviously, I’ve been away from it for a little while so it was my first game back and it was really obvious how much the boys have progressed in that time. The difference between us and being a top side and where we are, at the moment, is being clinical – being able to put games away when we’re on top.
“Today, you saw at times that we moved the ball really well – Kyle, Kaiyne and Keshi getting in good pockets and the full-backs joining in. When we get into those positions I think we need to be a little bit more ruthless.”
