UNITY between supporters and players has been underlined as a key component in any team’s game with regards to winning trophies by Swindon Town manager Richie Wellens.

Wellens and his squad completed a lap of honour following Saturday’s full-time whistle as Town downed Carlisle United 3-2 at the County Ground in League Two spectacular fashion.

A strong bond between players and their fans is something Town’s manager firmly believes in.

And Wellens used Premier League giants Arsenal as a prime example to what fans’ relationship with the players can have on a team’s ability on the field.

He said: “Look at Arsenal when they were flying between moving from Highbury to the Emirates.

“Players would clap the supporters when they walked off.

“It created a feel-good factor around the club. Now you look at the club, with 10 minutes to go, all the fans are on the tube.

“They all want to get home – and Arsenal didn’t win a trophy for a long time.

“As a group of players, when you’ve just worked hard for 90 minutes and the supporters stay behind to clap you off, it is a brilliant feeling.

“When the players go close to supporters and thank them for their support, it is a good feeling for the supporters as well.

“It’s great that they stayed behind on Saturday.”

Wellens is expected to make changes to the side that lost 3-2 to Chelsea U21s in the EFL Trophy a week ago when Town travel to Colchester United in the Carabao Cup tonight.

The Town boss was frustrated most by poor performance levels that evening. With Dan Ballard being one of two scorers last week, Tom Broadbent’s position in the side appears vulnerable.

In addition, Wellens is not prepared to risk key players at this stage of the season – Mathieu Baudry, Lloyd Isgrove and Jordan Lyden are likely to fall into that bracket.

Wellens said: “We’ve got certain players at the moment – one or two – that I only want to play on a Saturday.

“At the moment, you won’t see those players playing Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday. I want to get a base of games into them before I start doing that.

“No team in the country at this moment is fully fit. It applies to us and to Liverpool – it takes five or six games for a player to be 100 per cent match fit.

“And we need to get that balance right, because the last thing we need are injuries.”