PHIL Brown has plenty of positivity about Swindon Town’s style of play – but knows that a more ruthless nature now needs to come with it.

Town have been in indifferent form throughout the current League Two campaign, having won and lost four times apiece, coupled with five draws.

They are currently 13th in the table ahead of fixture number 14, which sees them face the side immediately below them – Mansfield Town – at the Energy Check County Ground.

Brown believes his team posses the technical weapons to hurt opponents, which were particularly evident in the 3-0 win at Plymouth Argyle in the Checkatrade Trophy last Tuesday.

However, the Town boss feels the missing ingredient to make them the finished article is a more robust mental fortitude.

“Do we have a style of play at the football club at the moment? I think we’re playing good football, but a winning mentality is the ethos I’m trying to get across to my players,” said Brown.

“I’ve got a good core of players in my changing room that understand what I mean by that – they’re probably the experienced players.

“Passing that down onto a young player that hasn’t got double or treble figure (appearances) in their career – that’s a difficult part of the job.

“We’re trying to give these guys an apprenticeship, but learning your trade on the job is a precarious position to be in.

“I need players like Scott (Twine) to understand that when he goes into the first team, he needs to do everything he can to hold onto that shirt.

“It’s not just about scoring goals, there’s a lot more to it than that.

“Having gone from our performance at Plymouth away, which was certainly one to admire from my perspective – I was excited and enjoyed watching my team play.

“There was no fear in that performance, but the league is the club's bread and butter – that’s what players are paid for.”

Today’s match marks the first return of Brown’s predecessor as Town manager, David Flitcroft, to the Energy Check County Ground.

Brown inherited a Swindon side narrowly outside the League Two play-off places last March and just failed to get them into the top seven over the final 10 games of the campaign.

However, the current Swindon boss says the game against the Stags holds no greater significance than any other.

“It will be one manager and his style against another manager and his style,” said Brown.

“I don’t have a bad word to say about David Flitcroft and I never will. That’s not my style and it shouldn’t be the style of any football manager.

“When you go into a club you need to grab hold of what you’ve got. Last season, I tried to.”