KYLE Knoyle is optimistic Swindon Town will start next season as one of the favourites to achieve promotion – and has hinted that the League Two title is a target for the club.

Richie Wellens’ side look likely to miss out on the play-offs this term, despite a sequence of results throughout 2019 that has seen them lose only four times in 17 fixtures.

Too many draws have put paid to outside hopes of stealing a top-seven spot, with the club five points beneath the dotted line with four games to go.

But perhaps more important than the results have been the significant upturn in performances from Town since the former Oldham Athletic manager took over in mid-November.

With one eye on next season already, full-back Knoyle believes the future could be very bright for Town under Wellens, and feels that with a few tweaks, Swindon may have a genuine shot at a return to League One.

He said: “Considering where we were in the table when the manager took over and compare that to now, you can sense something is happening here.

“I know there will be changes, but I have faith that we will enter next season confident with a great chance of hopefully winning the league and not just getting promoted.

“We’ve been picking up draws lately, knowing we should have won the game.

“If we start to put that right next season, we’ll be in a much better season and can hopefully push on for promotion.”

Knoyle has played 44 times for Town this season while manager Wellens has often called him the best one-on-one defender at the club.

The 22-year-old has returned the favour, in terms of praising his manager for overhauling the fortunes of a club that many feel has been under-achieving for quite some time.

Discussing the particular changes that Wellens has made since joining, Knoyle said: “He has brought a different perspective. He’s brought new ideas – when we go into games, we are more prepared compared to before.

“We have more of an idea regarding how opponents set up and we know how we can get the better of them.

“He’s very honest with the players. It’s a big squad, you know you’ve got to perform.

“Everyone knows their roles and it’s helped us to pick up points.”