SWINDON Town manager John Sheridan has told his players to stop thinking they are better than they really are after the club suffered its eighth loss in 13 games on Saturday.

Sheridan’s men lost 2-1 to Doncaster Rovers for the second time in the space of a month thanks to a brace from Fejiri Okenabirhie – cancelling out Hallam Hope’s late strike.

Defeat means Town have now taken just 11 points from a possible 39 since Sheridan took over, while the County Ground outfit has conceded first in eight of those 13 games.

The Town boss vowed to continue trying to get the best out of his players amid mounting pressure, and advised his squad to listen to what he and his coaching staff have to say on the training ground instead of taking matters into their own hands.

Asked what Sheridan can do to ignite a consistent change in results, he said: “The aim for us now is to keep working with players, and when you’re at this level of football – with no disrespect – you’ve got to listen and learn, focus, and stay switched on.

“When you’re getting told things, take it in your head and make it stay in your head. Don’t think you’re better than what you are.

“That’s a message for the whole team and the whole squad because we can’t be thinking we’re better than what we are.

“We’ve conceded the most goals in the league and we’re second from bottom, so that’s a message to the whole squad and me as a manager because I’ve got to make sure I pick the right team.”

The 56-year-old was then asked if it frustrated him that he was seeing good things in training that were not transferred into a game.

Sheridan argued that his side have been playing well for a while, but that good performances won’t win their battle against relegation.

He said: “I saw plenty of things on Saturday that we’ve been doing well for a while.

“We’re not second-bottom, based on that performance. We are, because the table doesn’t lie, but that performance was nowhere near a team who is second from bottom.

“And against a team who are on a really good run, a team that could possibly go up automatically, in my eyes.

“We’ve matched a really good team, but we’ve still lost. And we concede first too many times, which is a massive problem.”