RICHIE Wellens has his fingers crossed that star player Lloyd Isgrove will be able to take his place in Swindon Town’s starting XI at Cheltenham Town on Saturday.

Isgrove, who joined Town on a one-year deal in July, has been nursing a minor knee injury in the last week – and was a surprise starter against Northampton Town on Tuesday night after passing a last-minute fitness test during the pre-match warm up.

The former Southampton winger has impressed his manager in his six appearances for the club to date.

Losing him for Town’s trip to the Jonny Rocks Stadium tomorrow would therefore come as a huge blow. But Wellens remains optimistic about his chances of starting.

He said: “I hope Lloyd will be OK for Saturday.

“He gave us that spark on Tuesday – he was very good. Everything he did was positive, sharp and quick.

“I’m really pleased with him.

“Our decision was to see how he got on in the warm-up. If he pulled out of warm up, we were going to change the team.

“It was touch and go.”

The Town boss also discussed how he plans to take the game to teams that insist on sitting back in two defensive blocks of four and five.

Northampton oached three points from the County Ground on Tuesday night by using that very tactic.

And Wellens has told his players to take inspiration from Premier League champions Manchester City, who face a defensive wall most times they play.

Wellens explained: “It’s not easy to play against that tactic, but Manchester City go through it every week.

“Do they change? No, they don’t. We’re obviously at a different level, but we’re still going to come up against it.

“We need to make the pitch big, switch the ball and wait for the gaps.

“We need to be better in the final third – crossing and passing. I thought that was lacking again on Tuesday.”