SWINDON Town boss Richie Wellens was pleased by his squad’s reaction to last week’s 3-0 EFL Trophy thrashing by Plymouth Argyle both in training and on the pitch.

Four days after being dumped out of the Trophy in lacklustre fashion, Wellens’ squad responded by earning a hard-fought League Two point against Argyle in a fiery 1-1 draw at the Energy Check County Ground.

The Town boss says striker Jerry Yates was right to reveal the squad’s improved work ethic ahead of kick-off, with Wellens particularly pleased by fringe players’ reaction on the training ground following last Tuesday’s defeat.

Wellens said: “There are reasons why we weren’t quite at it in the second half on Saturday.

“We’ve had a three-game blip in the league, although we were OK against Bradford – and things went against us when Newport visited, Dion Conroy went down.

“Little things have affected us. But Jerry Yates was spot on to say there was a reaction in training.

“And there was a reaction in training by the lads that played on Tuesday who were not up to standard.”

An injection of motivation had to be delivered by Wellens on the hour mark during Saturday’s game amid Argyle’s search for an equaliser – which they found through Joel Grant.

The visitors dictated the majority of play during the second half, and were unfortunate not to find a winner – although home goalkeeper Steven Benda must take credit for making a number of excellent saves.

In saying that, Kaiyne Woolery fluffed an excellent chance for Town to poach a late winner when dragging his strike from 10 yards out wide of the far post.

Wellens confirmed encouragement from the touchline towards players and fans can be extremely important after he issued a rallying call to the Arkell’s Stand when four minutes of injury time was signalled.

He said: “I’ve been there myself. You’ve not played for six weeks and the game is 60 or 70 minutes old, you need some drive and pushing.

“And you want the players to do that to each other. But it’s important for the manager to push players on as well.

“The board went up to signal four minutes – I thought we could get another chance. And I wanted the supporters to be behind us.

“Our supporters were tremendous.”