SWINDON Town boss Phil Brown says the club’s preseason defeat to Portsmouth was a useful exercise despite the end result.

Town lost 2-0 to Pompey at the Energy Check County Ground in their penultimate friendly tie before they face Macclesfield Town at the beginning of next month.

Second half goals from Ollie Hawkins and Jamal Lowe saw Kenny Jackett’s troops pinch the victory, in what was a competitive game for both sides.

Brown says he was impressed with what he saw from his players this afternoon, but suggested his strikers need to loosen up if they are to reap the rewards in front of goal.

“I learned quite a lot today. I think we played some decent stuff up to a point and then in the final third, which is the business end of the game, we aren’t looking overly expressive at the moment,” he said.

“We need to just release or take the handbrake off so then the flow of goals comes. I think we have goals in the team.

“To a certain point it is going very well.

“That mentality spreads on the field of play which gives you that momentum to keep clean sheets and win games of football.”

The 59-year-old concedes that defensively and offensively there is still work to do, but says he has been developing the mentality of his players over the course of pre-season.

That said, the former Hull City boss says he would like to add further recruits to his backline if possible.

"The other side of the coin is we are short of two or three defenders who are mentally and physically capable of playing at this level,” he added.

“They (Portsmouth) had that today and that isn’t just because they play in a higher division. We played a League One team off the park at times.

“At one moment their keeper pulled off a decent save and spilled it to the edge of the box and Ellis (Iandolo) came in and I witnessed maybe three or four players throwing their body on the line in a pre-season friendly, so that is the mentality I’m talking about.

“That’s what the last two weeks have been about, players who are willing to die for the cause and put their body on the line in front of both goals, whether that be to score or stop one going in.”