PHIL Brown hopes that making five changes ahead of Saturday’s 2-1 win at Notts County will act as a wake-up call to some of Swindon Town’s players that have become accustom to regular first-team action.

Elijah Adebayo, Steven Alzate, Keshi Anderson and Toumani Diagouraga were all dropped from the starting XI in favour of fresh faces that included Martin Smith, Jak McCourt and Jermaine McGlashan.

The trio all impressed as Town ended their five-game winless run following Steven Alzate’s second-half strike and Jamie Turley’s unfortunate own goal 10 minutes from time after the hosts initially took the lead through Kane Hemmings.

Performances are likely to extend Brown’s search for his best XI further, and it’s a problem he will want to eradicate sooner rather than later with consistency very much on his mind.

“You’re looking at Stevan Alzate, it wasn’t through the want of trying on Tuesday night that he was involved in a team that lost – he consequently found himself on the bench,” said Brown.

“What you want from players that have been dropped or rested is for them to impact the game.

“If Steven is on the bench, you want him to really impact the game – and he did.

“But if he starts the next game, or the following game after that, I want him to start the game the way he did when coming off the bench.

“He’s learning his trade. He’s the kind of player that needed to be out there on a good surface. I know it was windy, but once he got the ball down he could play on the surface.

“And that’s what the team did in the latter stages of the game.”

Sid Nelson also made a return to the team sheet after he served a one-match suspension for picking up five yellow cards.

However, the Millwall loan signing’s performance was plagued and restricted by a series of questionable decisions made by referee Ross Joyce.

County striker Jon Stead proved a nuisance for Nelson, and his awkward character almost led to Nelson’s departure from the field – with Brown admitting he considered substituting his star defender in fear of losing him for further matches.

Brown said: “I warmed up Luke (Woolfenden).

“But I thought the threat of putting Keshi (Anderson) on the pitch was going to have more of an impact on the game rather than Luke having to defend.

“That proved to be the case. You have to look at Jon Stead, though, and I’m not here to criticise the referee, but I really felt at times that Sid was doing his job.

“It was more Jon Stead backing in than Sid climbing over the top.

“You have to have a level of understanding that both players are as committed as each other. But the crowd has to go out of the referee’s head.

“I know Sid is aggressive and wants to get involved, but as far as I’m concerned he got an elbow to his face.

“There are problems with him talking, which is good news for me.

“Jon Stead knows he’s been in the game, but unfortunately he’s on the losing side.”