SKIPPER Hasney Aljofree has lifted the lid on last week’s players meeting, making his own case for the Swindon Town defence.

Caretaker boss Dave Byrne called all the defenders in for discussion ahead of the visit of Carlisle, before taking the unusual step of naming his back four 48 hours before kick-off. Barring injury, the same four players will take the field against Crewe Alexandra on Saturday, with a second clean sheet of the season top of Aljofree’s agenda.

“It was constructive meeting last week, it wasn’t just Budgie saying you’re not good enough,” revealed Aljofree.

“It’s hard to accept the blame of the whole season, but when the stats are put up on the wall they are there for everybody to see.

“It’s not always black and white though. If you see the games and certain goals, it’s not just the defenders.

“There’s usually three mistakes before a goal, but it always ends up being the defenders’ fault. You just have to take it on the chin and react the right way.”

Town came within minutes of securing that elusive clean sheet on Saturday before Paul Thirwell’s late, late leveller for the Cumbrians.

It was an all too familiar tale for Swindon’s long-suffering supporters, and Aljofree admits the players are hurting just as much.

He said. “We were all devastated not to win, it felt like a loss. The lads wanted to get clean sheets last week in training, and on Saturday you saw a togetherness and a willingness to go that extra yard.

“But all it takes is for somebody to switch off and the ball is in the net.

“We were not ripped apart though, we always looked comfortable. They had some good players like Kavanagh and Thirwell, but we kept them pretty quiet.

“If we can carry on like that, hopefully we will keep another clean sheet.”

Aljofree, pictured right, also had some words of encouragement for his returning defensive partner Jerel Ifil and debutant Callum Kennedy, both of whom will keep their starting shirts for the visit to Gresty Road.

“It was good to see Jerel back in the first team because it’s not nice for anybody to be left out,” Aljofree said.

“I felt for him over the last couple of months, but he knuckled down and trained hard.

“The emergence of Pat (Kanyuka) and Sean (Morrison), which was always going to be case this year, was going to freeze one of us out.

“It had to happen and it happened to Jerel. But he came back and he didn’t look out of place at all.

“Defensively we’ve been taking a bit of a battering lately. The lads that came in Saturday, especially Callum and Jerel, were excellent.

“Young Callum on his debut, you have to take your hat off to him.”