SHORT memories are costing Swindon Town valuable League Two points, according to manager Richie Wellens.

The Town boss criticised his side’s ability to lose focus on tasks that had already been tackled and dealt with on the training ground following the full-time whistle on Saturday against Crawley Town, a game which ended in a 1-0 loss at the Energy Check County Ground.

Unacceptable old habits crept into Town’s playing structure against the Red Devils – and Wellens didn’t shy away from his knowledge that performance and ability levels must improve if his current players want to establish themselves in a higher tier in the Football League in the future.

He also stated that certain players got overly excited in the build-up to their latest game, a trait which he wants to erase from his squad’s mentality.

He said: “Before the Crawly game, I wasn’t getting too excited because I know what we are working with. But some people were getting overly excited.

“Our players are playing at this level for a reason and we are trying to improve them.

“The reason they are playing at this level is that when you give them information and they win games, they think it’s working well and they are doing well. Then, they go away from what has got them that success.

“If you tell Premier League players to do something, you might have to tell them once every 20 or 30 games because they are playing at the top level, so it sticks and they do it.

“We will be working hard all week to get back to where we were.”

A proportion of fans have already resigned themselves to the fact that League Two football is on the cards again for next season.

However, Wellens will not throw in the play-off towel until it is mathematically impossible, as his side prepare to welcome Forest Green Rovers to the County Ground this weekend in what many are considering to be a must-win game.

He added: “I don’t want one game to dampen everyone’s spirit.

“It was a really disappointing against Crawley and really disappointing display, but we go into next weekend’s game and that can change people’s mindsets again.

“We are where we are because one week, people do things really well, and the next week, they don’t.”