SWINDON Town manager John Sheridan is “very confident” his team will stay in League One despite sitting in 20th position after 11 games.

The new manager has only overseen two matches so far, but neither have resulted in a victory as Town have picked up just one point while shipping six goals in the process.

The defensive issues that festered before Sheridan’s arrival have shown no signs of disappearing in games against Shrewsbury Town and Accrington Stanley, despite the 56-year-old stating fans would see an improvement at the back during his time in charge.

Sheridan questioned the mentality of his players following the midweek embarrassment against Accrington, but when asked how he might be able to alter their mindset in the future, the former Leeds United and Manchester City midfielder did not have an answer.

He said: “I wish I had a magic wand, I’ve only been here a few days.

“That’s why I’ve come and that’s why I’ve been given the opportunity with this job – to keep us in this division.

“I’m very positive and very confident that we’ll stay in this league, but there are some good teams in this league, so I just want to make sure we win games as quickly as we can to make life easier for ourselves.

“Hopefully, things will turn around in the next game. We’ll have a couple more days on the training ground, and when you work with people on a daily basis, you see different sides to them.

“As a manager, you get judged on results and hopefully I’ll pick the right team to win the next game.”

Town’s next game is a west-country derby against an equally out-of-sync Bristol Rovers side who sit just a couple of places and points above in the League One table.

Sheridan knows a derby victory will do both his start as manager and the side’s outlook the world of good, but again, the Town boss noted a different mentality will be needed than the one his players have shown so far.

He said: “I think we’ve got to do better by switching on, seeing danger, stop making silly errors which make us vulnerable.

“The manner of the goals we conceded (on Tuesday), there’s not a lot you can do about it as a manager – if you’re mentally strong, you go out onto the pitch and you get a grip of your teammates and the people around you.

“But if I go by the goals we’ve conceded since I arrived, we should be capable of not conceding them.”