LUKE Williams says he has learned he must get full belief in his systems from his team after finishing a season as Swindon Town boss for the first time.

Williams has been on the staff at the County Ground for the past three seasons but was appointed head coach late in the campaign following two managerial departures.

Mark Cooper left the club in October - less than five months after leading Town out at Wembley in the League One play-off final - following a slow start to the season, while his replacement, Martin Ling, made a shock departure after a two-month reign due to health reasons.

After a brief spell as caretaker, Williams was viewed as the man to lead the club forward by chairman Lee Power and agreed a five-year deal as head coach in March.

A stop-start season culminated in Williams securing Swindon’s survival in League One and he says one of the biggest factors he will take from his brief time in charge is making sure everyone in the Town squad is on message.

“I think we need to make sure that we’ve got a clear idea of exactly how we want the team to play and we have to make sure that every player in the club understands the style of play and what’s expected of them so that we don’t waiver, we don’t start to second-guess ourselves or we don’t start to feel pressure,” Williams told BBC Wiltshire.

“We have a clear way of playing, a clear expectation level from everybody throughout that squad, so that when people come in, we know that they’re ready to come in.

“Something I’ve learned is that if the squad is not ready and not well-prepared and well-versed in the role of a first-team player, you can suffer from that.”

Williams was also asked to reflect on his highs and lows of the season and revealed he took most pride from Town’s ability to fight back from the brink, particularly evident in the likes of the home matches against Southend, Crewe and Blackpool, while his favourite games was the 4-0 success away at Chesterfield in late November.

“To see the boys come back at the County Ground from being 2-0 down on a couple of occasions was incredible,” added Williams.

“Late goals are a feeling you would like to be able to bottle up and take a sip of every now and again when you are feeling awful.

“Chesterfield away, we so needed to start picking up points on our travels and we came out so strong and we scored so early on.

“It was a fantastic feeling and you could see from the celebrations of the players that day, they jump on each other and then come and jump on the staff and it took about 20 minutes to get back to the restart, such was the feeling of togetherness that we at that moment completely believed we would get out of the relegation fight.”

In terms of lows, Williams conceded the mood was pretty sombre around the County Ground as Town plummeted into the relegation zone early in the campaign.

“Hitting 22nd position in the league was a real low moment and one that fills you with terror and gives you no peace at all,” added Williams.

“I have never been in that situation before and I learned the real pain of it.

“That was an incredibly low moment to look at the league table and see the word Swindon next to 22 was just frightening really, chilling.”