COMPETITION for starting places ahead of Swindon Town’s trip to Yeovil Town on Saturday is high following a disappointing performance against Bury last weekend, according to assistant manager Neil McDonald.

Town managed just two shots on target during last week’s below-par showing against the Shakers, a game which resulted in Swindon’s second league loss from their opening eight games as Bury’s Byron Moore beat Luke McCormick twice either side of half-time.

Performances in all areas of the pitch during that match have thrown the selection door wide open for Swindon’s trip to Somerset tomorrow, with competition for team places required to ensure a positive response.

“We’ve got lots of competition for places in different areas of the pitch,” said McDonald, who joined Town boss Phil Brown as his assistant during the off-season.

“Everybody has responded. It’s trying to make the manager take note of an individual’s ability and what they can do.

“That’s good for the person in the team, but also the player sat on the bench as they can keep the pressure on.

“Competition has been really good, and that edge has been there all the time.

“Whether we’ve won, drawn or lost – we’ve lost two in the league, which is an excellent start, really – we can always take the positives and negatives and the response from the players has been spot on from the start of the season.”

Yeovil are in good form having thrashed Newport County 6-0 last weekend, with wins against Grimsby Town and Stevenage before that.

In addition, Darren Way’s men have kept clean sheets in their last six fixtures – Aston Villa the last team to score against the Glovers when recording a one-goal win in the Carabao Cup on August 17.

It’s a stat McDonald has made his players aware of while also highlighting their attacking threat.

He said: “Yeovil have only conceded three goals and obviously scored six goals in their last game.

“They’re not prolific goalscorers. Myself and the manager went to watch them against Exeter and we were impressed with the way they try to play.

“They have some attacking threats and that’s why they’re at the top end of the league.

“Hopefully we can deal with that and exploit a few weaknesses they have at the back – it’s going to be an interesting game.

“Their structure is very good, they work hard for results and it’s why they’re in the position in the league that they are.

“We need to try and find that consistency, so we can hopefully climb above them come Saturday.

“Yeovil like to play. They scored six in their last game, but we’ve scored a fair few goals ourselves.

“We just need to tighten up at the back, and there’s no doubt they will be aware of our strengths – they’ve got to be on their best game to try and take the points from us.”