SWINDON Town manager John Sheridan believes momentum is still firmly behind his team following a first defeat in four games against Sunderland on Tuesday night.

Charlie Wyke’s 70th-minute header undid all of Town’s excellent defensive work on a night where the visitors had a clearly-defined plan – to sit in and try and nick a result late on against the promotion-chasing Mackems.

With the final 20 minutes providing the majority of the night’s entertainment, Scott Twine’s last-ditch free-kick almost snatched a point for Town.

Despite defeat, Sheridan was still pleased with what his side produced and dismissed claims their recent momentum had gone up in smoke as a result.

He said: “I don’t think the momentum has gone now. I think the two best performances are the ones we haven’t won.

“Against Lincoln, I felt we definitely should have got more than a 2-2 draw, and then against Sunderland I felt we should have got something. Then the two that we’ve won were probably the worst two out of the four.

“I think the players are understanding that we’ve got to battle and sprint, and fight for the cause because you can see the teams around us winning and losing every week.

“We’ve got to look after ourselves. If we can keep our consistency over the next few games, we will win more games than we lose.”

Town travel to Accrington Stanley on Saturday before entertaining Oxford United on Tuesday.

Key to potentially taking six points will be the performances of Swindon’s wingers – who have been in contrasting form of late.

Jordon Garrick has begun to show his capabilities while the experiment to put left-back Dom Thompson further up the pitch has not always paid off.

Sheridan conceded the Brentford loanee can improve but is backing him to learn his new role quickly.

He said: “As a team, I thought we worked really hard and I thought we looked solid against Sunderland.

“It’s about people knowing their jobs and what they need to do to help the team out. Whoever plays in midfield has to work their socks off, so it’s a crying shame we haven’t come away with something.

“Dom was playing out of position – I’d like him to be more of a threat, but I do know he’s a left-back.

“Attacking-wise, I think he needs to learn to be a bit more on the front foot with his energy, and that will help us get up the pitch a bit more. It is a bit strange for him, but he does a shift for the team.”