WITH 10 games of the League Two season still to go, Swindon Town manager Richie Wellens has admitted his side’s current position in the table is likely a fair reflection of how good they really are.

After a disappointing four days that featured losses against a pair of teams that are also working towards a late play-off charge – Carlisle United and Stevenage – Wellens left the latter’s Broadhall Way home on Tuesday night feeling disappointed, yet not all that surprised, that his team had not picked up the six points many had hoped would continue to fuel their excellent recent form.

Since joining the club in November, Wellens has managed to steer Town up from 17th to 12th, and while they do still have an outside shot at finishing in the top seven, watching Swindon has often felt like a case of two steps forward and one step back as words like ‘frustrating’ and ‘if only’ have left the lips of many a supporter post-game.

The Town manager described the bright lights of a potential play-off party as an unwelcome distraction for his players in the run-in towards the end of the season, but has not given up hope of receiving an invite to the exclusive gathering in May due to the relative lack of strength across the division.

Wellens said: “This is probably just where we’re at. You can cause damage in this league if you’ve got a little bit of aggression and a little bit of quality.

“We thought the players had done that recently, but sometimes they resort back to what they are and maybe they need a wake-up call. Hopefully, this will be it.

“We kid ourselves at times because we can see the lights of the play-offs a little bit in the distance, but let’s be realistic – this is where we are.

“We’ll try and make something of this season, which I still think we can, just due to the sheer lack of quality of the other teams.

“But I can’t wait to get some players in over the summer, and I’ll have a proper team – a real, proper team and we can go for it.”

After the defeat at Carlisle at the weekend, Wellens issued a target of seven wins over the final 11 games for his players to achieve if they are to defy the odds and sneak into the top seven.

While that is still possible, albeit unlikely, the Town chief is hoping consecutive defeats will act as a shot in the arm to his players.

Wellens said: “We were disappointed with the result against Carlisle but the performance, the energy and everything else was OK, but against Stevenage, it wasn’t.

“We’ve got two home games now where we need a response.

“It’s a shame Danny Rose is coming back from injury because I would’ve loved a central midfield player in there who could have really dictated the play in there on Tuesday.

“We’ll learn from it and move on. I don’t want to get too down because there have been a lot of highs recently. This is just a kick in the backside and a wake-up call for us.”