THE impact of loan midfield Rohan Ince could have reverberating effects on Swindon Town’s season - if he can maintain his level of performance.

Head coach Luke Williams was left impressed by the showing of the Brighton & Hove Albion man as he made his home debut on Saturday against Oldham Athletic, just three days after a court case where he was cleared of assaulting a doorman with a glass bottle.

The 24-year-old, who was acquired until the end of the season last month, made an immediate impression on the Town faithful at the weekend, with many left astounded when Williams brought him off with 15 minutes to play, with the former Chelsea trainee having picked up a yellow card.

Ince’s physical presence in the holding midfield role is something that has been lacking for Town this term, and paired with the creativity of fellow loanee Charlie Colkett, Williams sees a midfield that can cause many teams problems.

However, consistency in performance is a big question mark over many young players and Williams is calling on the duo to follow in the footsteps of former fan favourite Louis Thompson.

“I can only judge on what I have just seen and I thought Rohan was committed to making tackles and I thought he was safe with the ball. He didn’t try to over complicate things, that pressure was given to Charlie,” he said.

“(Colkett) had to try and make passes between lines, he had to try to make diagonal passes, which is difficult. Only certain players can do that, to hit those big switch passes.

“Rohan broke things and made so many tackles and had so much energy.

“Going on (Saturday’s) performance, I would have to say that those two were good and performed well.

“It’s always going to be a difficult problem with any young player.

“Some will be quicker to mature, I think Louis Thompson was probably that type – once he got three or four performances under his belt, he looked like a seasoned pro.

“For the majority of young players, it’s not like that. It’s a rollercoaster and we need to be ready to make a change when we see a player struggling.”

With Town's midfield looking more cohesive based on Saturday’s performance, Williams is also happy with the way his defence appear to have shored up in recent weeks.

The absence of Raphael Branco, who was serving the first of his two-match ban, didn’t interrupt that, as Town moved to a four at the back and looked untroubled for large periods of the game against Oldham.

“Even the goals at Northampton, we’re marking inside the box,” he added.

“I’ve watched it back and if you’re marking and you’re close to people and you make an attempt and they do something to get there first and steer the ball under pressure into the back of the net, it’s very upsetting but it’s hard to criticise too much.

“It’s when, earlier on in the season, people were gifted opportunities inside our box unmarked, it’s totally unacceptable.

“As a unit, they’re defending very well.”