OLLY Lancashire could return to the Swindon Town team sheet for tonight’s trip to Newport County.

Lancashire, 30, has been restricted to only four appearances since Richie Wellens took charge of the club in mid-November – and subsequently lost his role as team captain to Dion Conroy.

Wellens revealed on Saturday, after Town’s 1-1 draw with Yeovil, that he plans to name a largely unchanged side, but he wouldn’t rule out including Lancashire in the squad – despite his lengthy absence.

“We’re playing some really good stuff,” said Wellens.

“It will be more or less the same squad, we might have Olly Lancashire around it.

“There is no point asking a player how he feels at 5.30pm on a Saturday. We get a gauge on where we are with every individual on Monday morning.”

Players that required treatment were in on Sunday ahead of tonight’s crucial League Two test, while all members of the squad completed a light training session yesterday.

The remainder of the day was dictated largely by classroom work on tonight’s opponents – who will see their realistic play-off hopes end should they be defeated by Wellens’ side tonight.

Describing Newport as a physical team that can work the ball well in both boxes, the Town boss said implementing their own style of play on the hosts will be key if three points are to be earned.

He said: “Players had a day off on Sunday, the ones that needed a warm-down or treatment were in though.

“We trained on Monday, that was be a light session. But we need to get information into them with regards to how Newport play.

“I would imagine the pitch will suit them more than us. But, I’d like to think that between both penalty boxes we can be better than them.

“Newport are a very physical team and they’re good in both boxes. We’ll need to deal with that and implement our game on them.”

Reaching the top seven remains a stiff ask for Town, according to Wellens.

But ‘beating his own team up’ wasn’t part of his post-match team talk on Saturday – fearing that harsh comments could lead to a loss of form similar to what Bury are experiencing at this moment in time.

“It’s going to be tough to reach the top seven, we need to dust ourselves down after Saturday,” said Wellens.

“Look at Bury, and look at MK Dons – you can lose a game and beat yourself up about it and lose the next one.

“We’ve got to respond in the right way, if we win tonight it will put us right back in the frame.

“I’m under no illusions than Newport away, with the way they play on the pitch, will be a tough task.”