RICHIE Wellens will keep his opinion of certain individuals to himself, but he publicly slammed Swindon Town’s performance at Crewe on Saturday as unacceptable.

Town were on course to poach an undeserved point at Gresty Road against table topping Crewe before man of the match Chris Porter netted his second goal of the game with seconds remaining in normal time.

Charlie Kirk added to Wellens’ late misery as Eoin Doyle’s well-taken first half strike that handed Town a first half lead provided some 500 plus travelling fans with nothing but a brief moment of joy.

The loss means Town have registered just four points from their last six League Two fixtures – only Carlisle United have a worse form record of the division’s 24 teams.

And with bottom side Stevenage set to visit the County Ground on Tuesday, Wellens understands the importance of the upcoming week.

He said: “That wasn’t acceptable. In terms of the performance, in terms of our energy levels.

“We started the game in a bad way, and unless you’re a good team it’s difficult to turn that around.

“We were poor, and I know the reasons why we were poor in my head. We want to eradicate those before Tuesday (against Stevenage).

“I have thoughts on certain individuals and performances – I’ll keep those to myself and ensure we work on Monday.

“Stevenage is a big game now, and it will be a tough game because they’re flying high.”

Town were without question fortunate to end the first half a goal up.

Crewe dominated passages of play but struggled to break into the visitors’ final third – largely thanks to Gabriel Zakuani’s determined defending.

That changed in the second half. Static bodies gifted Crewe their winner while Kirk’s late third saw Town caught on the break.

Wellens wasn’t afraid to roll the dice – he took a fit Keshi Anderson off the pitch with little over half-an-hour played, a move that initially worked as the more aggressive Lyden delivered an assist.

But Town’s system was worked out. And Wellens will consequently go back to the drawing board.

He added: “We had to change shape after 20 minutes. Some of our players took all the plaudits at the start of the season, and now we’ve hit a dodgy patch.

“They need to respond in the right way and get performance levels back to where they were.

“Keshi (Anderson) told me he was fine, and his tests have come back fine.

“But he couldn’t keep up with Perry Ng – a fit Keshi would be able to do that. The last two away games, we have looked no way near the level we were at.

“Sports-scientists tell me Lloyd Isgrove didn’t have a pre-season, and maybe that is catching up with him. But we’ve got to be brave.”