FIFTH place in League One is still within reach, according to Mark Cooper, despite the fact his Swindon Town side are currently nine points off the pace with 15 games of the season remaining.

Rotherham United currently occupy fifth spot with 54 points from 30 games, with Town eighth having played one match more than their play-off rivals, but Cooper thinks a good run of form could see the Robins close the gap.

He said: “I think there are still definitely a couple of places up for grabs. I’ve looked at the games teams have got to play and teams are going to drop points.

“The only thing is you’ve got to make sure you win your games first before you start worrying about anyone else.

“The results went well for us in the week. The teams that were capable of closing the gap on us didn’t so we’ve had that little bit of a buffer and we have to look after our own stuff now.”

A key part of any rise up the table in the final third of the campaign would rely on Swindon improving their away form. After the draw at Walsall and victory at Port Vale, Cooper is hopeful that his side are beginning to do just that.

“We’ve got the attacking bit right but we keep conceding goals so we haven’t got that spot on yet. The way we play we do leave ourselves open to conceding goals,” he said.“Yes, we are constantly working on that and if we could get that right we’d never lose a game, would we?”