REVENGE isn’t what Swindon Town manager Richie Wellens is after.

“If you work with revenge missions in life, you will go crazy,” said Wellens.

That was his reply when quizzed about Regan Slater’s threat on Saturday when Town kick-off their League Two campaign against Scunthorpe United at Glanford Park.

It was only nine months ago that Slater’s efforts left Wellens feeling helpless after a brace from the teenager guided Carlisle United to a sensational 4-0 victory at the County Ground – Wellens’ first game in charge.

Slater’s loan spell at Carlisle has since reached its conclusion, and parent club Sheffield United struck a deal with Scunthorpe in the summer – his second loan spell as a professional.

But that first day pitchside at SN1 has passed now.

And for Wellens, focus on Scunthorpe’s attacking threats as a whole has left him rather puzzled – although he hopes the same applies to Iron boss Paul Hurst.

Wellens explained: “I’ve looked at Scunthorpe’s set plays in the last three or four friendlies and they’ve not done anything.

“The same applies with their defensive set plays. My guess would be that they’re doing a lot of work on the training ground, but don’t want to expose it where we can get the footage.

“There might be a couple of things they do that no one has seen yet, and the same applies to us.

“But you take a lot of stuff with a pinch of salt. I would’ve thought they will go 4-1-4-1 – and we think we know the team.”

Amid the gloom of relegation from League One last season, Scunthorpe did at least manager to retain top goalscorer Lee Novak - the 30-year-old triggered a one-year extension to his contract in March.

Novak struck 13 times in all competitions from 47 games last season, and this year will be his first in the fourth tier following spells at Huddersfield Town, Birmingham City, Chesterfield and Charlton Athletic.

Like Scunthorpe, Wellens has also retained his top goalscorer – Michael Doughty – and the Town boss expressed the importance of holding onto proven goalscorers at all costs.

He said: “The best teams in the world have the best strikers. The best teams in each league have the best strikers.

“If you’ve got footballers that dominate possession and make chances, but don’t have that player to take those chances, then players will get a bit disheartened and the game changes away from your favour.

“If you’ve got that goalscorer that can score when you are on top of the game, the game turns in your favour – and everything becomes easier.

“We’re looking for that striker – and Lee Novak is a very good player, he’ll be comfortable at this level.”