SWINDON Town manager Richie Wellens says his side will respond to a lacklustre 20 minutes in midweek by returning to winning ways against Exeter City on Saturday.

Town dominated proceedings against John McGreal’s Colchester United, going a goal up before a disastrous final 15 minutes saw three goals conceded and zero points earned.

The sorry trip back to Wiltshire was a rare one for the Town squad – defeat in Essex was only Swindon’s eighth league loss all campaign and just the club’s third since exiting the FA Cup to Cheltenham Town in mid-November.

Welles said he had been very pleased with the levels of performance in recent months, and aside from a wobble late on at Colchester, is keen for his players to continue their past patterns when the Grecians arrive at the County Ground on Saturday.

He said: “We put pressure on ourselves anyway because we’re back at home.

“We’ve had a disappointing 20 minutes – I wanted us to be a bit braver on the ball.

“We didn’t pass the ball in the last 20 minutes against Colchester and we dropped far too deep.

“We should be able to deal with long, straight balls if your defensive line is good.

“I’m telling the players to get up, but I think they just switched off.

“But it’s only been that 20 minutes in the last dozen games, so hopefully it stays that way.”

Earlier this week, the Town boss criticised his players for letting the game slip away from them in defeat to Colchester.

Though the visitors conceded three – two of which were from set pieces – Wellens did not lay blame at the door of his centre backs, Mathieu Baudry and Rarmani Edmonds-Green.

Instead, the 39-year-old suggested a general retreat towards their own goal by his players caused unnecessary problems from which the hosts’ goals arrived.

Wellens said: “I thought Mathieu was outstanding, but when we didn’t get pressure in the middle area of the pitch, Colchester went long.

“And it’s not a technical thing, it’s just a decision by the back line to drop 10 or 15 yards.

“I don’t know why we did that because we’ve got good pace back there and we’ve got good readers of the game – that’s the only thing that disappoints me.

“I thought both of their performances (Baudry and Edmonds-Green), even though we’ve conceded three, were really good.

“I know it sounds strange, but did Colchester cause us any problems from general play? I don’t think they did.

“I can’t remember Steven making a save, so the only danger they posed was from long balls and set plays.”