SWINDON Town manager David Flitcroft says this week will be a time for reflection and forgiveness as he seeks the right response from his player’s to Saturday’s defeat to Crawley Town.

Town’s first loss of the season left a bitter taste in the mouth of the Swindon boss, not least because is occurred in front of an expectant County Ground crowd.

With the transfer window closing tomorrow and Flitcroft only stating that he is on the hunt for one more addition, he knows that the current squad will be the ones he will be relying on to achieve their overall goal of an immediate return to League One.

As a result, the 43-year-old knows it is not a time for pointing fingers and the blame game but says he will do everything in his power on the training ground this week to ensure that Town show an immediate response when they return to the County Ground this weekend against Barnet.

“It’s our first defeat in the league,” he said.

“We will support the group and I will forgive the group, I will certainly forgive myself but I am aching to give the home supporters the points they deserve.

“They have come in and stood behind the team and we will make sure we find that connection between them and the players because that is going to be really important if we want to be successful this season.

“You have to look ahead. Forgiveness for me is a great human quality and that’s what we will have to do.

“This is the group we are going with, this is the group we will galvanise and spirit sometimes comes out of defeat.

“We were going to get beat, under no circumstances do you want it in that manner but it’s happened.

“I can’t affect the past but I can definitely affect the future and that’s something I will be aching to get right so that we can flush it out and move on to next week’s fixture.”

Flitcroft, who was promoted from League Two with Bury, has spoken previously of the pitfalls of the division, knowing that it wouldn’t be a walk in the park.

Saturday highlighted just that and as he looks to making the finishing touches to his squad while he still can in the transfer window, he knows that flexibility from his side will be crucial.

“We know that League Two has got so many surprises, so many different types of teams and styles of teams,” he added.

“It will be a tough old season but it was nothing that we didn’t expect.”