JAMES Dunne has no intention of shying away from his own shortcomings as the midfielder finally tries to fire the starting gun on his 2018-19 season.

The 28-year-old has proved a peripheral figure in Phil Brown's Swindon Town squad so far this season, a status that is almost entirely self-inflicted following his disciplinary indiscretions both last season and this.

The former Exeter City man was forced to watch Town's opening three matches of the season from the sidelines as he served a three-match suspension following his sending off against Accrington Stanley on the final day of the 2017-18 campaign.

A brief - albeit effective - appearance from the bench in the dramatic 3-2 triumph at home to Tranmere Rovers on August 18 followed, paving the way for the midfielder to earn a first start of the campaign in the next match at Crawley where he went on to notch his first goal in Town colours to give his side the lead, only to be heading down the tunnel little more than half an hour later after being red-carded for a reckless tackle.

It all adds up to a disjointed first month of the season for the man into the second half of a two-year deal and he was on the receiving end of criticism from both his manager and supporters for two such disciplinary lapses in quick succession.

Dunne is content to recognise his own shortcomings in that regard as he plots a route back into a Town squad that is beginning to find its rhythm under the guidance of Brown.

That process started with a start in Tuesday's Checkatrade Trophy win over Newport County and Dunne admitted: "It was good to get a game after being sent off again, which was just silly.

"(It was) a bit of a badly-timed tackle (at Crawley) but I’ll learn my lessons and quick. We need to get that one out of the way.

"I was buzzing to start and I was probably a bit too excited which is why it happened, but hopefully I’m looking forward to my season starting now.''

Town's start of the season has often been a white-knuckle ride of an affair, not least at home where two come-from-behind 3-2 wins against Macclesfield and Tranmere were following by a last-gasp rescued draw against M K Dons two weeks ago.

Last weekend's single-goal win at Morecambe and a repeat against County on Tuesday hinted at a new-found steel among Brown's men though and, with Bury the next to put that to the test at the Energy Check County Ground tomorrow (3pm).

Dunne added: "We seem to have solidified the defence up a bit, with two 1-0s and two clean sheets. It’s been a good week so far.

"For the neutral it’s (previous home games) good to watch but for us we want clean sheets, we want 1-0s and we want to win.

"Hopefully they will come now and we can kick on.

"It’s a decent start, not what we want it to be. Obviously we would like top of the league.

"But it’s decent enough and we’ve started to get one or two clean sheets.

"I’ve only played two games, but even from the side, it’s been manic. I think we’ve had three times in games where we’ve scored in the 90th minute or lost so it’s been a bit of a manic time.

"Good for the neutral, but not for us.''