SWINDON Town manager Richie Wellens says a lack of options means his team will be forced to play a certain way until new recruits are brought in.

With just days of the domestic transfer deadline remaining, Town are running out of time to bolster their squad – though Wellens had previously said the club has no money to spend unless players leave prior to Friday’s 5pm domestic deadline.

This leaves the Town boss in a waiting game with his side-lined squad members, with their return date potentially signalling the ability for the 40-year-old manager to change up his tactics, should he feel the need to do so.

Wellens admitted he would have liked to have started in a different shape against Peterborough United earlier this month, but with limited options at the back, his hand was forced prior to Town’s defeat.

He said: “We’ve got a plan B and C, but we haven’t got the personnel to implement it at the moment.

“For example, when we went away to Peterborough a couple of weeks ago, I always had it in the back of my mind that with the way that they play – being so open – a back three or a back five would work against them, defensively.

“We kick off and we were outstanding for half an hour, and we should come in two or three goals up, but then we don’t know Zeki Fryers is going to go off injured and we’ve only got Jonathan Grounds on the bench, and we can’t go to a back three.”

Wellens suggested he would simply have to make do with altering his initial set-up for the time being, as opposed to coaching his team through two completely different plans until new players become available to him.

Wellens said: “I like my plan A to work, and I’ll do everything I can to make it work, but I’m not stupid.

“On Saturday against Wimbledon, we tried a couple of different things where Diallang Jaiyesimi and Jonny Smith swapped wings, for example.

“So we have got options – when we play Jonny on the left and Jordan Stevens on the right, that gives us two out and out wingers.

“When they play on the opposite sides, it allows them to cut in and the full back to overlap.

“So we’ve got so many different ways we can work our plan A, but at the moment, to get a plan B, it’s purely down to personnel.”