PHIL Brown is considering a change in Swindon Town’s offensive system ahead of this afternoon’s League Two contest against Northampton Town after failing to score in their last two fixtures.

Brown has defended his choice to start Town’s previous two fixtures with experienced Marc Richards acting as target man with Elijah Adebayo and Keshi Anderson playing wider roles on the wing.

But after registering just four shots on target in 180 minutes of playing time, the 59-year-old is considering a slight tweak to Town’s system – but at the same time defended Richards’ playing role.

“I want to be more fluid,” said Brown.

“Marc (Richards) being the type of striker that he is, he wants to spend his time down the middle and between the sticks – I understand that.

“The younger element of the team - I’m talking about Jermaine (McGlashan), Keshi (Anderson), Scott (Twine) and Elijah (Adebayo) - have got the legs and the energy to help and provide.

“There might be a call for a different system, which I’ve thought long and hard about. A change or tweak to the system and mentality of the players – not everybody – might work.”

Swindon’s efforts to date in League Two see them positioned two points short of the play-off frame, but points dropped in their last two fixtures have prompted a proportion of fans to voice their displeasure about the ability of the squad in the final third.

Despite this, Brown revealed staff from both Oldham Athletic and Crewe Alexandra – Town’s two recent opponents – have been full of praise for the Town squad.

Brown said: “I firmly believe we are difficult to play against, teams are saying that after the game.

“Oldham were delighted on Saturday to get a point and Crewe were delighted with three points against what they described as a good side.

“I don’t want to ever become a bad side by dropping a player that is still contributing. But I understand the supporters thinking we’ve got a pacey 6’ 4” number nine playing 11 or seven too much.

“I’ve been working to try and change Elijah’s game and help him.”

At the same time though, Brown understands Northampton are likely to possess their own new dangers this weekend after Keith Curle was announced at the club’s new manager following the departure of Dean Austin.

“A Keith Curle side is usually very resilient and organised,” said Brown.

“When you inherit a team between transfer windows you can’t change the players or personal.

“Northampton haven’t become a bad team overnight, they were just underachieving with the players and the budget.

“Their budget is competing with the top three or four in the league.

“We have to understand that the opposition are there to take points from us, and we have to do something about that on the offensive side and defensively.”