Michael Flynn said he would have to approach the Exeter City Bristol Street Motors Trophy game with his head rather than his heart.

Swindon Town will close out their BSM Trophy campaign this evening at the County Ground against Exeter, with the pair having already been eliminated from the competition.

Both sides have been struggling for form in recent weeks, with Swindon having won just once in their last nine league matches and the Grecians ten matches without a win across all competitions.

When asked about how he intended to approach the match, Flynn said that with fixture congestion and Town’s lengthy injury list, he might have to approach the match in a more pragmatic manner.

He said: “I really don’t know at the minute, I don’t know how to approach it because I want to win every game, but we have got a tough one on Saturday with Mansfield at home and then we have Accrington away.

“It is relentless at the minute, so I have got to think with my head and not my heart about Tuesday and I will have these discussions with the staff.

“I am not making excuses, they are facts, we had three 17-year-olds on the bench today.

“Anton [Dworzak] has come back in having been on loan lower down the pyramid, Brooklyn [Genesini] has never really been in a first-team environment.

“[Tom] Brewitt and [Lewis] Ward are the only ones [on the bench against Harrogate] with a bit of experience.

“Those youngsters, I know if I put them on, they will give me their all, and I watched the game in midweek [in the FA Youth Cup against Wimborne Town] and they showed that they can play on a big pitch and move the ball quickly.”

If Swindon were to come out on top then it would be their first win in any cup competition in 11 attempts, with the last being a 2-1 victory at Walsall in the FA Cup in December 2021.

Town and Exeter have only met once before in this competition, a seven-goal thriller in the 2020/21 season, with the Grecians racing into a two-goal lead inside ten minutes with goals from Harry Kite and Ben Seymour, before Tyler Smith pulled a goal back from Swindon.

Nigel Atangana and Alex Hartridge then gave the visitors a substantial lead, but Smith scored again, and Matty Palmer’s stoppage time goal gave Exeter a scare, but they held on to win 4-3.