PLAYING for the full 90 minutes against Exeter City this weekend has been underlined as one of Swindon Town’s priorities by manager Richie Wellens, who is relishing the atmosphere St James’ Park will create.

The Grecians struck in the 88th minute of their opening fixture against Macclesfield to secure a one-nil victory while Nicky Law’s 89th minute goal at Stevenage last weekend earned the city side another determined three points.

Not keen for his side to become Matt Taylor’s third victim of a late strike in this League Two season, Wellens has called for Town’s fitness levels to step up a notch following Tuesday’s Carabao Cup first round loss to Colchester United.

The Town boss said his squad looked leggy after Jerry Yates’ unfortunate sending off – which led to Colchester netting three late goals and booking their spot in the competition’s second round.

Wellens said: “We looked a bit leggy when the game went to 10 v 10 on Tuesday night – we couldn’t cover the distances to close the gaps.

“Maybe that’s because we’ve had four games in a short space of time. We had a long drive as well that took four hours.

“These aren’t excuses, we should’ve taken our chances when we were in control of the game.”

Saturday will be Wellens’ first visit to Devon as Town boss since he took over the club in November of last year.

Exeter hold the upper hand in recent years. In fact, Town have recorded only one league win at St James’ Park since the turn of the millennium.

Nonetheless, Wellens is out to break unwanted trends.

He added: “It should be a good atmosphere on Saturday, Exeter get good support anyway – regardless of their league position.

“They’ve done well to get six points so far. They’ve scored goals in the 88th minute (against Macclesfield) and the 89th minute (against Stevenage) to earn wins, and it proves they are a team that keeps going until the end.”