CARRYING momentum into the Merit League is the goal for Swindon Town under-18s boss David Farrell ahead of his side’s clash with Newport County on Saturday.

Town’s academy outfit need a win against bottom side Newport at home in order to qualify for the next stage of the competition, and although the form book suggests an easy Swindon victory, Farrell has instructed his boys to treat the fixture as any other.

Town U18s are in a rich vein of form, having won six of their past seven games, but Farrell knows how important maintaining a professional mentality is when facing an under-performing team.

He said: “I’ve said to the boys in training that we just have to treat it the same as we’ve treated every other game we’ve won over our last six or seven.

“It’s really easy to tell them that and I know they’ll listen because they’re a really level-headed bunch.

“Regardless of who we’ve played recently, we’ve set our standard in terms of the mentality.

“It doesn’t matter who plays then, everyone knows the level that they have to be at and what their role is in the team.”

Farrell says a settled side has also played an important part in his side’s excellent last half-a-dozen results, but even if changes need to be made for the weekend’s game, the Academy boss is confident any potential replacements will not disrupt the team’s flow.

Farrell said: “We’re on a really good run of form and we want to keep that going, regardless of who we’re playing at the weekend.

“We were in form before Christmas, and we’ve managed to keep that momentum going into the new year.

“Whatever the amount of time might be before we start the Merit League fixtures, we’d like to win the last game in the Youth Alliance league because confidence is high at the moment.

“Confidence is always really important in football.”