Gavin Gunning said that he has been very pleased by the reaction of his Swindon Town squad in training during the last two weeks.

Swindon were presented with a two-week gap between fixtures after their game against Walsall was moved due to international call-ups, presenting the interim head coach with two weeks to work with the players following two disappointing performances in a week against Accrington Stanley and Doncaster Rovers.

Gunning said that he had seen the reaction that he was hoping for from his squad after questioning some of their attitudes following recent defeats and believes that they have done some good work on the training ground during the extra time they have had to iron out the issues they have been having.

He said: “I think that against Doncaster we had a very poor first half and a good second half and the Tuesday game was poor.

“The reaction has been good, the lads have trained really hard and they know where we let ourselves down and where we were sloppy.

“I think that starting games we have been slow and that has been a theme for most of the year, we are slow and we concede and then we start going again, which is not a good thing to get into as a team.

“I have been there as a player where you don’t realise it but you fall into habits and they you are trying to get out of them and it is tough.”

Fixing those slow starts to games was something that Gunning said had been a real focus for him in training over the last two weeks as they were hamstringing the team.

He said: “Certainly [that has been a focus]. Every game when you are chasing your tail makes it tough.

“In the MK Dons game, we literally gifted them two goals and then we are chasing the game.

“Those are the things that kill you as a team, as a coach, and as a player, it is those kinds of mistakes that are uncoachable things when the goalie runs into a defender and they score when you are playing a really good team and it is going to be tough anyway.

“I think that it is important that we try and learn from all of those mistakes and how you can improve yourself, that is what I try and do myself, reflect on these things.”