FULL-BACK Bradley Barry has called for the Swindon Town squad to stand up and be counted as they desperately seek to turn around their poor run of form.

Town were unable to put more distance between themselves and the League One relegation zone at the weekend as they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Shrewsbury Town, who are also involved in the battle at the bottom.

Swindon have claimed just six league wins this term but only one in the last nine fixtures and are currently just four points above the drop zone.

They had looked on course to claim a morale-boosting victory over the Shrews last time out, only to be pegged back by an equaliser 10 minutes from time at the County Ground.

Barry says now is not the time for the Swindon squad to go into their shells and feel sorry for themselves as it is down to the players to turn their current plight around.

“We can’t be hiding now, we need to come out as strong as ever,” said Barry.

“We knew we should have taken all three points on Saturday but you can’t just click your fingers and say ‘I want three points today’, we need to work on seeing out results and nicking 1-0 wins.

“I know it’s not a very nice picture but we have to put our chests out and become men. That’s the main thing in this league, we can’t be boys anymore.”

It would be easy to forgive the Town squad for being down in the dumps about their current predicament so Barry is glad they have the characters in the group to lift players’ spirits and not dwell on past failings.

“We have got the individuals that like to have a laugh but we will be serious when we need to be serious and when we are training there is no messing about as we need to learn as well,” said Barry.

“People like Lawrence (Vigouroux) and Lloyd (Jones) keep everyone together and I think you need those players in the team otherwise everyone would be down and you are not going to win if you are just going to be sitting back accepting everything.

“Staying together is the main thing, we can’t be digging people out, it’s a team effort.”

Town head coach Luke Williams has admitted the youthful Town squad are still working on building up their mental toughness and Barry says the older heads in the dressing room have been key to helping them make inroads in that regard.

“The mental side of the game is the hardest but it’s also the most effective,” said Barry.

“No matter how young or old you are, you do learn it off your older players and we learn off Nathan Thompson and Jon Obika, people like that. They have been around a few years now and we need to learn off them.

“It’s not just going to happen tomorrow, it’s one of those things you have to just work on.”