SWINDON Town are feeling no pressure in their quest to poach a play-off spot following yesterday’s 3-0 win at home over Colchester United, according to midfielder Canice Carroll.

Carroll, 20, surprised himself when firing Town into the lead with six minutes remaining in the first half – his first goal in well over 14 months.

The strike was a result of Richie Wellens’ tactical tweak just after the half-hour mark had passed.

Wellens opted to swap the roles of Jak McCourt, who settled in the holding role, and Carroll, who positioned himself in a more attacking role for the game’s final hour.

The move worked a treat, and has promoted Town up to 10th in the League Two table – four points short of the play-off frame with a game in hand.

Pressure that naturally comes with attempting to secure a play-off spot has been brushed off by Carroll though, who insists a cliché day-by-day approach is serving Town well for the moment.

He said: “We’re not feeling any pressure. We’ve got a chance to get into the play-offs, and we’ll obviously be disappointed if we don’t get there.

“But we’ll take every day as it comes, we had a great performance on Saturday (against Colchester). And we can’t go to Carlisle and put in any less than that in terms of work rate.

“For me, I came in January and still saw the club’s position as not a million miles off. We’re taking every game as it comes, and I’m sure we’re going to put in a good shift.”

Despite a nervy start - which almost saw United score from a corner following a rushed pass in midfield - Carroll settled to not only notch his first goal in a red shirt, but also make a number of key challenges in midfield.

Those challenges, coupled with Town’s resolute defensive performance, restricted John McGreal’s men to only two shots on target throughout the entire 90 minutes.

And Carroll quickly praised the shape of Town’s back four – consisting of Luke Woolfenden, Dion Conroy, Tom Broadbent and Kyle Knoyle.

He said: “We had good defensive shape, we spoke about it before the game because we knew they were going to try and play balls through us.

“They’re a good side, they move the ball well. But, like I said in the week, this gives us a chance.

“We’re playing against good teams that are in the play-offs. We weren’t at our best passing wise and moving the ball.

“But we got three points, sometimes you’ve got to do that in these games.

“Credit to the back four, they were good. Me and Jak (McCourt) swapped roles, he went to four and I played eight – the manager got it right.

“We wanted to win second balls and go beyond Theo (Robinson). As much as Theo can chase balls all day, he does get tired and needs help from us.

“I thought James (Dunne) was brilliant winning second balls, and it was weird to score.”