CONSISTENCY is an element Swindon Town are yet to crack, but they will need to do so if a play-off spot is to be poached – according to manager Richie Wellens.

Town haven’t been in League Two’s top seven since their 1-0 win at Morecambe in early September.

And while Town’s points-per-game ratio since Wellens’ arrival in mid-November has matched form required for a team to reach the play-offs, the Swindon manager wants to see his squad stride to deliver consistent performances.

From Wellens’ 24 League Two games in charge, an average of 1.58 points have been secured per game. That form over a season would be good enough to place Town comfortably in the top seven.

But the club has been left playing catch-up after a disappointing record under former boss Phil Brown dropped the club to 16th in the league after 17 games.

Wellens said: “I want us to strive for consistent performances, and then let’s just see where that takes us.

“We’ve gone from scoring four at home against Morecambe, where we could’ve scored seven or eight, to scoring three away at Bury, where we could’ve scored seven or eight.

“At Yeovil at home, we could’ve scored seven or eight. On Tuesday at Newport, we should’ve scored three or four.

“A lot of the game is there, we just need to finish it off. The main thing is that I am proud of the players.”

Town’s performance at Stevenage in mid-March has been marked as Wellens’ most disappointing game since he took charge at SN1.

But he has been pleased by his squad’s ability to implement their own style of play of opponents since that game.

And he wants more of the same when facing in-form Oldham Athletic at Boundary Park tomorrow.

He added: “We stood up to the test on Tuesday night at Newport.

“The biggest disappointment I’ve had since I’ve been at the club was Stevenage away, we didn’t deal with their long balls and when we did turn the ball over we did was they were doing.

“On Tuesday, I told my players not to do that. Newport win a lot of their games playing their own way.

“We had to stick to our game plan and do what we do. We want the distances too big for them to cover so we can play around them, and we did that.”