AN ‘overload’ of loan players at Swindon Town is of little concern to Swindon Town manager Richie Wellens - who insists the more options he has, the better his team will play.

The 38-year-old was hit by three loan departures in January as Steven Alzate returned to Brighton through injury, Sid Nelson headed back to parent club Millwall before joining Tranmere and Elijah Adebayo departed for Fulham after not fitting in with Wellens’ expectations.

Centre half Luke Woolfenden was Town’s only summer loan signing to remain a part of the squad, though even he returned to his parent club (Ipswich) for a week of training under their relatively new manager Paul Lambert.

Fearing that Woolfenden could be re-called at any stage, Wellens acted to sign Tom Broadbent and Taylor Curran while Canice Carroll and Ali Koiki were loaned in from Brentford and Burnley respectively.

Ben House also signed on loan from Reading’s Under 23s while deadline day loan agreements were reached with midfielder Kyle Bennett from Bristol Rovers and Theo Robinson from Southend.

It leaves Wellens – who has made no secret of his intention to create some familiarity in the Town squad – with six temporary players in his side.

Despite being allowed just five loan players in a match-day squad, meaning at least one player will by default miss out, Wellens insists having more options is better than none.

“We’d rather have more players than less options,” Wellens told BBC Wiltshire during a fans’ phone in.

“We’ve tried to give ourselves the very best opportunity of doing something this year.

“The loan players we think we’ve got good deals on – they’re not overly expensive.

“But that is part of having a squad, we’ve got 16 or 17 games left and we know we are going to pick up injuries and suspensions in that time.

“It’s better to have one more body than one less body.”

Unwelcome snow prior to Saturday’s scheduled game at home against Forest Green Rovers forced Town’s first postponement of the season, with the rescheduled date yet to be confirmed by the club.

Wellens believed the game provided his men with an ideal opportunity to reverse their woeful home form – which has seen them fail to score in half of all fixtures this season.

Positive performances on the road in recent weeks – including at Northampton, Mansfield, Macclesfield and Tranmere – have left the Town boss scratching his head.

And he admits to still searching with regards to finding out what is wrong with his players’ mentality when playing in front of home fans.

He said: “I watched our away performance at Tranmere and we looked like an excellent team.

“The shackles were off, and we were playing forward, running forward, expressing themselves and we played at a good intensity.

“Sometimes at home we lack that. I know teams can sit in against them, but it’s still up to us to take risks.

“I’ve had six or seven games at home now, I’m looking for solutions and I’m problem solving.

“I want to get two strikers on the pitch at home, and I will be looking for something in the next two or three home games to find a solution.”