Udoka Godwin-Malife said that the Swindon Town players have been having the hard discussions with each other in a constructive manner.

Following a promising opening nine games of the season in which Town went undefeated, they have picked up 27 points in the 30 games since and just ten points from 11 games under interim head coach Gavin Gunning, leaving them in 19th place in League Two.

Following a run of three straight defeats against Mansfield Town, Accrington Stanley, and Doncaster Rovers, culminating in boos for Town as they left the pitch at half time at the County Ground on Saturday, Godwin-Malife revealed that the players have been having honest discussions about the way their season is going.

He said: “In football, you have to have a thick skin, it doesn’t mean that we hate each other, it means we are trying to get the best out of each other.

“Of course, we dig each other out, in the right way, as you should.

“I am not playing under-12s football, I am playing men’s football and of course things like that happen, and it starts in training, and it does happen in training, we do get after each other in the right way.

“That is how teams are successful when you are driving standards, and you are getting after each other every single day. We do do that, believe me.

“I don’t know what it is, all I can come back to is that we just have to get better as a team because it is a team game.”

The 23-year-old added that he felt that it was in difficult times like these that you get a true measure of players and how they react to the situation.

He said: “The group is a tight-knit group and we have a good group, the bones are still there even with the new players coming in.

“They are good lads and good players, very good players, you don’t just become a bad player overnight, it has just not been clicking and we need to start clicking.

“That is life and things don’t go your way all the time and that is when you find out about yourself.

“If things aren’t going well, can you turn up? Who is stepping up?

“We just need more people to step up, me included, I have got to step up and we have got to step up.”