Gavin Gunning said that he will be looking to find the balance between building for next season and using what Swindon Town have in the final four games.

With four games remaining in the season, Swindon have ensured that they will be in League Two next term after victory over Barrow AFC last time out ensured mathematical safety.

Town presently only have Harrison Minturn, Tariq Uwakwe, Ricky Aguiar, Jake Cain, Anton Dworzak, and Aaron Drinan with contracts that definitely include next season and not even Gunning himself is guaranteed to be back.

The interim head coach has previously said that he envisages his side evolving into one that plays with four at the back and inverted full backs but has since found more stability and form using a back three.

Gunning said that he would have to strike the right balance between experimentation and building momentum in the final games.

He said: “It is personnel, it is who is going to be here and who is not? Does everyone want to stay? Who do we keep, who do we not? How does it work? Who do we see outside our bubble? That is important.

“100 per cent [it is about balance], but it is not always about shape, it is about space and how you dominate it.

“It can look like so many different shapes, I think I saw [Mikel] Arteta say before that we have 42 different shapes that we play, it is just that nobody realises it, thinking about if we are attacking here can we defensively be resting in this space.

“It is also important with players and who you have, at first I was trying to put people in there and we had success early but then you get a couple of injuries, and some people don’t go into that.”

One player who could see more action in the last weeks is Joel McGregor, who has been thoroughly impressing in training.

Gunning said: “Joel is ahead of the other young lads at the minute, he is actually part of the first-team squad and he is training every day.

“He is training the house down, to be honest, he is training really well.

“It is not going to be a token of just giving guys minutes, you want them to earn it and Joel is getting himself into a position to earn minutes in the first team.

“Application, attitude, and hard work are the main things [making him stand out].”