FRUSTRATED boss Richie Wellens says his Swindon Town squad is still lacking firepower with the Sky Bet League One kick-off less than three weeks away.

Town rounded off their pre-season tour of Manchester with their first friendly defeat of the summer on Saturday, losing 4-3 at Northern Premier League outfit Ashton United.

Veteran former Manchester City and Stoke midfielder Stephen Ireland, 34, and ex-Bristol Rovers striker Tom Nichols were among the travelling party and are looking to secure deals for the 2020/21 campaign.

Wellens said talks with both were ongoing but that other trialists would be released.
And it is in attack that he knows he needs to strengthen after two of the stars of last season, Eoin Doyle and Jerry Yates, opted to sign for Blackpool and Bolton Wanderers respectively this summer.

"It comes to the point we need players in," Wellens told BBC Radio Wiltshire. 

"Our underbelly is very, very weak. You can't ask young players to play week in, week out in League One if they don't have the experience of that level. 

"We need attacking players and have lost 46 goals or around that number from last year.

"I think we've replaced (Keshi) Anderson well in (Jack) Payne but we need to replace the goals of Yates and Doyle.

"It's getting frustrating."

A double from substitute Hallam Hope and a Tyler Smith strike proved in vain at Ashton, where Town struggled to deal with the hosts' direct approach and found themselves 4-0 down inside 40 minutes.

The defeat followed a 2-0 win over Manchester United U23s and a 5-0 success over Abbey Hay.

Wellens added: "It just clarified where we are. We desperately need five or six (players). In the first half the team was nowhere near it.

"No disrespect to Ashton because they worked hard deserved the win but irrespective of whether you're tired after a hard week's training, you should be able to beat opposition like that and the first-half team was so far off it it was untrue."

Wellens revealed Town will play two matches on Saturday – away to Bristol City and at home to Brentford – and that he is close to securing the services of a goalkeeper on loan.

But he said that man will not be Steven Benda, who shone for the club on loan from Swansea City during the League Two title-winning campaign.