SWINDON Town’s strength in depth will be a crucial element in a successful Christmas period, according to defender Nathan Byrne.

The Robins are scheduled to play four matches in 11 days between tomorrow’s visit of Coventry City to the County Ground and the arrival of Crawley Town in Wiltshire on New Year’s Day.

In between, Town face daunting trips to promotion-chasing Brentford and Bradford City, as manager Mark Cooper’s side’s play-off credentials are set to be given a stern examination, but with the squad carrying minimal injuries Byrne thinks Swindon are well equipped to deal with a busy fortnight of football.

“It’s important that we’ve got a good squad and everyone is ready to play because there’s going to be some chopping and changing in the next four games because they’re coming so quickly,” he said.

“You don’t have a lot of time to prepare and recover in the Christmas period so that’s the main thing.”

Like the rest of the Town squad, Byrne was hugely disappointed by the limp defeat to Sheffield United last weekend, but he stressed that he and his teammates are hell-bent on making amends when Coventry visit tomorrow.

“No one’s happy after losing, especially the way we did because we felt we were strong at the back,” he said. “Obviously none of the boys are happy a week after losing a game but we’ve just got to look forward and everyone’s focused on Coventry now.

“Hopefully it will be a good footballing game. Especially at home the lads are confident we can go out and beat any team so I think we’re not as focused on them as we are on ourselves.

“Obviously they’ve got two sharp boys up front and they’re socring goals but if we can keep the ball off them then we don’t have to worry so much about their strikers.”