NEW Swindon boss Richie Wellens believes reducing unnecessary touches and moving the ball around quicker can help spark an upturn in Town’s fortunes in the run up to Christmas.

Wellens faces his first test since taking the Town hotseat this afternoon when John Sheridan’s Carlisle United make the long trip south to Wiltshire.

Having watched his new squad in training this week, Wellens – who has played with a handful of Town’s players before – admitted he’s going to ask key questions in the upcoming games against Carlisle, Port Vale and Stevenage.

Wellens said: “We played a little bit differently at Oldham because of the personnel we had, but I want to play very quick football (at Swindon Town).

“If we can take two touches instead of five, take them.

“Move the ball quicker, when you pass the ball, run forward, we will try to get lots of bodies in the box.

“It is early days, I know two or three of them, but the squad in general I don’t know much about them in terms of their personalities.

“In the first two or three games, I am going to take risks and ask questions of them.

“All I can do from now going forward is judge the players on their merits and what they can do.”

This afternoons opponents Carlisle have secured just four points from their previous five fixtures – the same form record as Town.

Having worked with United bosses John Sheridan and Tommy Wright before, Wellens insists he understands as much as an opposition manager can about the dangers and threats United will pose.

He added: “There will be two strikers, and he (John Sheridan) will keep his two strikers up the pitch as much as he can, and they will play a back three.

“They started the season off really well, they have faltered a little bit, but they had a lot of players out – they have got a lot of them players back now.

“John Sheridan’s teams have been very successful, he has won promotion from this league, so they will be very well organised and tough to beat.”