SWINDON Town manager Richie Wellens admits he is ‘desperate’ to add a midfielder to his squad before the domestic transfer window closes on October 16.

The international transfer deadline shut at 11pm on Monday October 5, however Town’s most likely source of new player will come within the Premier League or EFL.

Therefore, the Town boss still has a little over a week to add to his squad, and at least one central midfielder is thought to be on Wellens’ wish list.

Leeds United’s Robbie Gotts is the latest name to be tipped to arrive at the County Ground, and Wellens said any new arrival cannot come a moment too soon as the hectic schedule in October continues with an EFL Trophy fixture against Exeter City tonight.

Wellens said: “I’m desperate for another midfield player because we’ve got an EFL Trophy game on Tuesday (tonight) that Anthony Grant and Matt Smith – who I thought was good again on Saturday – are going to have to play in.

“I don’t want to play them in this game because they’ve got another game on Saturday, but if I don’t the balance of the team will be totally interrupted.

“It’s not fair on the other lads if they’re playing in a team that is so unbalanced.

“We do need another midfield player because Michael Doughty leaving is still a huge hole in our team, and we’ve got Jordan Lyden who’s injured.”

Town operated a 4-2-3-1 formation in a 3-1 defeat to Peterborough United on Saturday – with Matt Smith and Anthony Grant as the two holding men in midfield.

And although the visitors started extremely brightly at the Weston Homes stadium, Posh eventually found their feet and were able to pass around Town during a second-half domination.

Wellens suggested afterwards that he would rather have played a 4-3-3 formation in order to match Peterborough, but without the assets to do so, the Town boss made plans otherwise.

He said: “Sometimes when you come away to a ground like Peterborough, who are a good team, I don’t want to go in with two players sitting in midfield.

“I didn’t do it last year – the teams that we thought were a danger, Anthony Grant sat in the middle and I played two midfield players either side who can match them up.

“But we had to go with what we’ve got on Saturday, and that probably cost us a bit of control of the game.”