DEFENDER Rob Hunt believes the last couple of games have shown Swindon Town boss Richie Wellens how mentally strong his players are after bouncing back from a string of poor results with two victories of contrasting nature.

Following a run of five games without a win, Town ground out a scrappy 1-0 success over Stevenage at home 10 days ago before thrashing Crawley Town 4-0 on the road last Saturday.

However, the two wins against sides in 17th and 23rd respectively only served to reinforce Town’s contrasting form when taking on teams in the division’s upper and lower halves.

Wellens’ men have not beaten a single team inside League Two’s top 12 so far this season – played eight: drawn three and lost five – while Town have been utterly ruthless against sides in the bottom half.

But Hunt believes the squad have more than competed in a lot of the fixtures against their promotion rivals and says their recent response proves they can turn it around against better teams in the coming weeks.

He said: “I don’t think we’ve played that badly against any team in the league recently apart from Crewe away.

“Everyone knows that wasn’t good enough, but against all the other teams in the top half, we’ve done quite well.

“We started off really well, but then we went through a little blip.

“I think we’ve shown what we’re about as players and as a team in the last couple of weeks.

“Training has been bright and bubbly this week – as it always is – and we’re looking to take that confidence into the weekend against Walsall.”

If Town are to continue their bottom-half bully status against Darrell Clarke’s Walsall on Saturday, they will have to change a surprisingly poor record at home to the Saddlers.

Swindon has only beaten Walsall once in the pair’s previous seven meetings at the County Ground, although that statistic could change for the better given Eoin Doyle (13) has scored more goals than the entire visiting team (11) so far this season.

Full-back Hunt is well aware of Walsall’s excellent recent record in Wiltshire and says no one will be taking them for granted, especially as the next generation of fans will be watching on hoping to see their team collect all three points.

Hunt said: “The home games have always had a good atmosphere this year.

“Hopefully that continues on Saturday with all the kids and families coming in, and we can win the game for the fans.

“It will be a tough game, like every game is in this league.

“Even though I don’t think they have won in their last five, that doesn’t mean anything.

“Walsall have got some good players, but we know what we need to do to get the win on Saturday.”