Michael Flynn said that there are various components of a promotion-winning side that Swindon Town are lacking this season.

After beginning the season in fine form and going nine games undefeated in League Two, Swindon have struggled in the nine subsequent matches, winning only once.

Ahead of taking on a Mansfield Town side who are second in League Two, Michael Flynn was asked about what components he thought made up a side capable of challenging for promotion.

He said: “You need experience, you definitely need experience, and you need a bigger squad, especially this year when you are playing longer.

“We all talk about the budgets, but that brings its own pressures, and just because you have a big budget doesn’t mean you are guaranteed to get out of the league, but it does help.

“It allows you to build a squad that if you change three, four, or five players, those three, four, or five coming in don’t make you any weaker.

“That is what we haven’t got at the minute, but like I have said that is not an excuse, that is where we are at.

“Nigel [Clough] has been given time to build that, which is important, and they have a group of men who know what they are doing and know League Two inside-out.”

Despite admitting that Swindon lacked some of those necessary ingredients of a promotion contender, Flynn felt that there was more Town could have done in recent weeks with the players already at their disposal.

He said: “For me, it is not ideal, but I am not here to make excuses and we need to get on with it.

“We need to get to January, we need to bring some fresh faces in, and strengthen the squad.

“Until then we have to deal with what we have got, dig deep, and get the excuses out of the window because there are still games that we should have won with the players we have got.

“That is the bottom line, the games we have thrown away have been nothing to do with what we didn’t have on the bench or the players who were on the pitch.

“There were individual errors where we switched off at key moments and allowed teams back into it.

“That is where I look at it because those are the things that I can affect and work on.”