SWINDON Town will be physically mismatched in future games given the young nature of the club’s squad, accepts first-team boss Richie Wellens.

Town were bolstered by the young enthusiasm from academy graduates Sol Pryce and Scott Twine on Tuesday night as Wellens recorded his first home victory since taking over from predecessor Phil Brown less than three weeks ago in a 3-2 win over Stevenage.

While the stats and final score suggest Town were worthy of securing their three points, a below-par display in the concluding 20 minutes of the second half almost gifted Dino Maamria’s men a way back into the contest.

Fortunately, Town’s back five in those concluding moments – alongside skipper and holding midfielder Matt Taylor – held firm to secure the club’s first back-to-back League Two wins of the season.

While Wellens accepts that having a youthful side does have its benefits, he admits changing the style of play if essential is they are to avoid becoming embroiled in physical contests that they will struggle to compete in.

He said: “I feel like a babysitter, there are so many young lads in the team.

“But they’re doing great, and I don’t want to take that enthusiasm away from them.

“We’re going to come up against a few teams that are so physically mismatched – and we’re going to have to try and play in a way that takes the physicality out of it.

“We’ve got Elijah (Adebayo) back now. If you look at our squad, Toumani Diagouraga, Kaiyne Woolery, Marc Richards and Jak McCourt are all missing – they’re all men.

“Ellis Iandolo has been outstanding in the last two games, and fair play to him.

“If they (Town’s younger players) don’t get ahead of themselves, then they will stay in the team.”

Wellens fielded a starting team with an average age of 23 on Tuesday night – with Taylor proving the most experienced man for Town on his 37th birthday, while 22-year-old loanee Sid Nelson’s was the oldest defender in the side.

Those stats prompted Wellens to admit he still has plenty to work on with his promising group – adding that young enthusiasm, particularly after a goal, is hard to stop.

He said: “ We’re asking the likes of Luke Woolfenden, Scott Twine, Sol Pryce, Ellis Iandolo and Kyle Knoyle to do things that they’re not doing week in week out.

“We showed so much quality, but what got us over the line was guts and determination.

“We scored so early, and then we scored again. Players get giddy, and they start to do thing I don’t want them to do.

“That’s just young enthusiasm – we’ve still got to work a lot. And that is difficult to stop.

“Going two goals up so early does put you on the back foot a little bit. It’s obviously great to score so early, but they’ve got to keep doing the same things.”