Dan Kemp has insisted that Swindon Town have not become a bad team overnight despite their difficult run of form in League Two.

After going nine games unbeaten to begin the season, the wheels have come off and Town have only won one of their last eight league games.

Despite such a difficult run of results, Kemp insisted that Swindon remained a team capable of challenging, they just need to rediscover their form.

He said: “The way we play is expansive football, but the goals we are conceding are not from sloppy errors playing out from the back, it is conceding goals from all sorts of areas.

“It is a case of collectively we have to be better defensively, not just the defenders, as a collective, as a team it is a trend of our season, and it is something we need to look at.

“Everyone knows we can score the goals we have done that throughout the season.

“But if you look at Stockport as a collective, they are better than us, they were better than us today and they are at the top of the league for a reason.

“I think it is 13 wins in a row, you don’t do that by not defending and attacking as a team.

“We have to stress as well that we haven’t become a bad team, the way we started the season, the players we have got in the group [show that].

“It is about sticking together and realising why we had that success early in the season and getting back to that.”

Despite the belief that Kemp retains in the group, he believes that this weekend’s game away against Harrogate Town could be a crucial one in the season.

He said: “We have no choice but to stay positive, we have another big game this Saturday and we need a good week’s training.

“We go into Harrogate wanting the three points and needing them.

“Every game is tough in this league, off the back of recent results you might think we go into this one fearing them, no chance.

“We can beat any team in this league, but we have to do it now, it is all well and good talking in the changing room saying we need to do this and that.

“But we need to step up as players and get the wins on the board like we did at the start of the season.”