SWINDON Town head coach Jody Morris says his side travelling up to Crewe on the day of the game is “not ideal preparation” but hopes the players can repeat their heroics against AFC Wimbledon a week prior.

Town have made the decision to travel up to the Mornflake Stadium to face Crewe Alexandra hours before kick-off this Saturday, just as they did when thumping the struggling Dons 5-1 last weekend.

But while the trip to south-west London was a mere 82 miles – which often takes less than two hours in a car – Gresty Road is 134 miles each way and usually sets travellers back between two-and-a-half and three hours.

Morris acknowledged that League Two clubs must look to tighten their belts in certain areas and pointed to Swindon’s comfortable victory at Wimbledon as evidence that travelling on the day is not fatal to a team’s chances of success.

He said: “Those arrangements were already put in place before I got here. I can only imagine it’s for one reason. It must be to save money. But that was done before I arrived.

“I think there are elements where the club has to do things at times to try and save money, and I kind of get that.

“But just from a performance aspect, it’s never ideal when you’re travelling that sort of distance on the day.

“But we travelled a fair distance down to Wimbledon on the day and we produced, so we can’t let that be an excuse.”

While Crewe’s lowly position in the table – 18th – would suggest Town are favourites this weekend, Lee Bell’s side have not lost at home since February 7 when Leyton Orient departed with a 2-0 win.

Since then, Salford City, Barrow, and Walsall are among those to have come unstuck at the Mornflake Stadium.

Morris is excited by the challenge, though, and wants to see his players put some of their recent wrongs right while building on the positives too.

He said: “It’s a game I’m looking forward to. It’s going to be a tough test, and a different type of challenge from Stevenage.

“We all know we haven’t performed as well as we should have done in some of these games against so-called lower opposition, so we need to try and put that right.

“It’s not the best prep when we’re travelling up on the day of the game, but it’s something that we need to deal with.

“Although we lost in the week, it’s a period where we’re getting plenty more positives from performances. Hopefully, we can build on that and try to finish the season as strong as possible.”