RICHIE Wellens highlighted his positive relationship with chairman Lee Power as one of the most pleasing aspects of his time in charge at Swindon Town.

Having been at the helm of the County-Ground outfit for a little over a year now, the former Oldham Athletic manager said he did not enjoy a similar relationship at his previous club and heaped praise on his new boss for always supporting the 39-year-old but never interfering.

Wellens has previously revealed that he and Power have regular conversations surrounding the daily goings on at the club, and the Town manager thanked the chairman for his unwavering support even in times of comparative strife.

Asked whether there had been any major surprises – good or bad – in his tenure at the County Ground, Wellens picked out his relationship with Power as the most helpful revelation.

Wellens said: “It’s not a surprise, but the biggest thing for me is my relationship with the chairman.

“He makes things so much easier for me from my last job where the difficulties there are well documented.

“This is a good job to have because he lets you get on with it, and he gives me his full support.

“For example, we went through that run earlier this season where we did pick up a lot of injuries and our form wasn’t great, but he went out of his way to call me and reassure me.

“We had a good conversation, we got things off our chest and that’s what makes him so good to work with.”

Wellens hopes to cap his belated anniversary week at the club by guiding his team into the second round of the FA Cup.

Playing Cheltenham for a third time in three months, the Town manager is hoping the pair of previous draws has given his players enough intel to get the better of their Cheltenham counterparts in tonight’s replay.

Wellens said: “We’re going to change a little bit from the first tie because we did a lot of really good things in that game.

“We’ll make a few tweaks just to make us even more threatening, especially in the final third.

“We’ll wait to see if Cheltenham change anything, but we’ve played them twice already, so we’re quite aware of what they’re about and the threats they pose.

“It will be about us and what we want to do because we’ve performed really well in the first two games, and we’ll try and do the same in the third.”