MANAGER David Flitcroft sees similarities between his own Swindon Town side and this weekend’s opponents Mansfield Town as both teams are still searching for that perfect formula.

Town boss Flitcroft and Stags counterpart Steve Evans each made large-scale changes to their respective squads over the summer as they sought to put together a promotion push out of League Two this season.

However, 12 league matches in, both teams are on level pegging on 19 points, two short of the play-off places, and have put together back-to-back wins just once.

Flitcroft admits he has not quite found the magic recipe that will see Town win consecutive matches on a more regular basis and ahead of tomorrow’s trip to the One Call Stadium, believes Evans maybe in the same boat at Mansfield.

“Consistency is something we have not quite achieved and Mansfield are probably similar,” said Flitcroft.

“We are probably both working at similar things and getting the balance right - that balance between defending and attacking.

“I think that is the holy grail for most managers and coaches, how many players you commit to the defending aspect and how many you commit to the attacking aspect.

“Last Saturday against Cheltenham, our wingers probably played too deep in the first half.

“In the second half we played with an expression and got further up the pitch and played with more aggression.

“You are always trying to get that balance right and probably both us and Mansfield are still trying to do that.”

On-loan full-back Chris Hussey is again set to miss out this weekend against the Stags and is set to see a specialist to assess his groin injury this evening.

Goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux is suspended, on-loan striker Harry Smith has returned to parent club Millwall to deal with personal issues, while centre back Dion Conroy is a long-term absentee with a knee injury.

Another loan player, midfielder Timi Elsnik, has been monitored by the medical staff at parent club Derby County following a groin problem of his own.

Town are due to train with the Rams today ahead of their game against Mansfield and Flitcroft hopes to get a better understanding on Elsnik’s availability then.

“Chris is going to see another specialist up in Chesterfield on Friday night and we will have news on that on Saturday,” added the Town manager.

“We have had good feedback on Timi and we are actually training at Derby tomorrow so we will meet up with their staff and get a real assessment of where Timi is at.

“It would be a bonus to have him in and around what we are doing, it will definitely make us stronger.”