SWINDON Town captain Olly Lancashire will not listen to ‘outside voices’ and instead continue to play and prepare for matches in no different manner, despite being on the receiving end of heavy criticism from a proportion of the club’s supporters.

Lancashire was booed regularly by a number of home fans during Town’s home defeat against Cambridge United last month.

Reaction to Lancashire receiving such criticism upon receiving the ball clearly shocked those fans that chose not to partake in the ‘protest’ against Swindon’s captain.

But the 29-year-old will apply advice first heard during his teenage years at Southampton, for whom he made 13 appearances during a three-year stint with the club before embarking on spells at Grimsby Town, Walsall, Aldershot Town, Rochdale and Shrewsbury Town.

He said: “I was lucky enough to grow up at Southampton with some very good senior professionals, and I always remember them telling me not to listen to outside noise – positive or negative.

“There’s no good that can come from it – if you go to the manager who says that you’ve had a bad game and the fans think different, and vice versa.

“If you believe outside voices, you’re in trouble.

“I’d rather listen to the staff and players, that’s how I’ve always been.

“Obviously it wasn’t nice against Cambridge.

“I’m a very honest person and an honest professional.

“If the fans want to boo me, then that’s up to them. But I went into training on Thursday as normal to go about my business.

“I’ve got a lot of support from my team-mates and the manager.

“That’s football, I’m big enough and strong enough to deal with that.”

Lancashire played a key part alongside fellow centre-half Sid Nelson last weekend as Town recorded their first League Two win in five weeks at Notts County.

The Swindon captain spoke highly of Nelson in the aftermath of Saturday’s triumph.

Nelson was repeatedly deemed at fault by referee Ross Joyce for ‘shoving’ County forward Jon Stead, whose actions almost resulted in the defender's dismissal from the field.

Awkward play is something centre-halves must get used to dealing with, admits Lancashire – who talked about playing fairly, but with force, after the final whistle.

“I think he (Sid Nelson) chipped a tooth, Jon Stead is very experienced and gets fouls well,” said Lancashire.

“He’s got quite sharp elbows, and Sid caught one – he’ll be okay.

“You have to be a bit ‘cute’.

“Stead knows where you are and he’s trying to get a foul to keep their team up the pitch.

“It was a good battle between him and Sid. Thankfully, he stayed on the pitch.

“There’s positive energy in the squad, and training is really good.

“We haven’t been getting the results that we obviously want. We’re looking to kick on, but there’s still a lot of football to be played.

“We see every year that this league is very tight, two or three wins will kick you up the ladder.

“There’s no one feeling down or sorry for themselves. It’s a long season and we will be looking to be right up there come May.”