Wake-up call

A run of nine games unbeaten had seen the Swindon side surge up the English Premier League table until five goals in the last 12 minutes saw them crash 7-6 at Romford.

Ahead of tomorrow's home match with second-placed Slough and Sunday's trip to Sheffield, Hargreaves (pictured) believes the setback will just inject "more fire in their bellys" for the fight ahead.

The Wildcats' forward, said: "It was disappointing the way we lost but sometimes things like that bring teams back down to earth. It is a reality check.

"Before that defeat it had maybe got into the minds of some of us that we could cruise in this league but now I think the fire will back in our bellys.

"I certainly don't think this is the end for us. It won't crush us and I believe in the long run it will make us stronger."

Going into the weekend's games, Swindon lie in sixth spot, five points behind Slough and just a point behind Sunday's opponents Sheffield.

Hargreaves said: "The league is so tight. It is exciting for everyone, especially the players.

"You just can't afford to drop points in any game so we know we can't come out of the gates slowly or finish badly. We have to be ready and at the pace of the game every second.

"It is always going to be intense in a league as tight as this."

Coach Ken Forshee is going into the weekend without any injury worries and is looking for a positive response from last weekend's disappointment.

"We have to forget about what has happened and start again," he said. "We lost concentration for a couple of minutes on Sunday and it proved very costly.

"Slough and ourselves are probably the two form sides in the division at the moment and it is probably a game we must win if we want to finish in second place.

"Sheffield are also a good side and just a point ahead of us so again it is a very important game, but at this stage of the season they all are."