SWINDON Town winger Joel Grant says his teammates have the character to overcome their recent poor start to games as a trio of home fixtures begin against Accrington Stanley tonight.

Town host Accrington this evening before welcoming Bristol Rovers to the County Ground on Saturday for a west-country derby and high-flying Lincoln City the following Tuesday.

With a run of tough games ahead, Grant knows Swindon will have to begin games far better than they did against Plymouth Argyle and Shrewsbury Town if they are to accumulate any points.

The winger is confident his team can lengthen their two-game unbeaten run so long as his fellow players remain relaxed in the game’s opening stages.

Grant said: “Our home games are going to be important for us this season, so I think we’ve just got to keep progressing. If we can cut out the sloppy starts, I think we’ll be more than fine.

“Sometimes when you’re going through a little bit of adversity – we’ve had a lot of changes and a lot of stuff happening behind the scenes – and you’re where we are in the league, you can be mindful of starting well and then the opposite happens.

“We’ve been caught cold twice now, but the character is there, and that’s something that the new manager can work with.”

Grant is excited about the prospect of working under new manager John Sheridan and has been relieved to see the incoming boss reluctant to change too much from the previous regime.

The 33-year-old discussed his new manager after the 3-3 draw away at Shrewsbury on Saturday, saying Sheridan told his attacker to excite him in the build up to kick-off – and Grant was only too happy to oblige, netting Swindon’s first.

Grant said: “I think he suits the players we have here because we’ve got good players that want to play football the right way.

“So far he hasn’t looked to change too much, which is encouraging, especially when you don’t know who’s going to come in and what they’ll do.

“It’s nice to have someone who wants to work with us, and I’m sure he’ll do really well. Hallam Hope had nothing but good things to say about him too.

“He said he likes his attackers to go and excite him – those were his words before the game – and for the type of player I am, that’s music to my ears.”