MIKE Thompson wants to see Swindon wipe the slate clean as they look to kick-start their South West One East campaign in 2017.

Sean Lynn’s side travel to Newbury Blues with the hope of ending an unwanted record of five straight defeats to see out 2016.

After being revitalised by the festive break, skipper Thompson is looking for an improvement from his teammates, starting with the road trip.

“When we finished off last year we drew a line in the sand, we have to play them all again now so we can forget about last year and start again,” said Thompson.

“We had a lot of injuries and unavailablities before Christmas which weren’t going on our side, but we seem to have everyone back at the moment.

“Everyone has been keeping their fitness up over Christmas and haven’t let themselves get too big, they all seem keen to get back to it.

“I think the break has been a good thing for us to have and getting everyone back so that we can start over again.”

Swindon only managed to claim 20 points from the opening half of the season and looking back Thompson believes they still have work to in the remainder of the campaign.

“I think when we look about the results and the losses we have had, it has been so narrow and a lot of it has been down to us making mistakes and not being clinical enough,” added Thompson.

“We want to prove a bit of a point because we want to prove a point because we have been in this league for a while now and we want to show we can compete.

“At the moment we aren’t doing ourselves any justice. If we can come back strong and just be the Swindon of old and get back to that sort of level, we will be okay.

Unlike Swindon, their opponents enjoyed the first half of the season as they collected 10 wins in the opening 14 games, but the Swindon captain is relishing a tough test to start the year as they look to build momentum in the remainder of the season.

“Newbury away is always a tough game because that is their little fortress and they’re hard to beat at home,” he said. “They’re tough away from home too but is the same for anyone, playing at home gives you that little bit more.

“The league we are in at the moment everybody is beating everybody, so any game would have been a tough one to come back to.”

Alan Low’s Royal Wootton Bassett also return to action at the weekend as they look to overturn a run of four straight defeats with a victory away at Old Centralians.