Fryers wants more quality as season enters crunch phase

ZEKI FRYERS insists Swindon Town have more to give as the season approaches its crunch point with STFC aiming for promotion back to League One. Total Sport Swindon’s Ryan Walker caught up with the Swindon defender to get his thoughts on promotion and his personal development at the County Ground.

Four points from their last two matches, combined with Saturday’s postponement of Swindon’s match against Scunthorpe, has seen things tighten up at the top of the League Two table with just three points separating the top four sides. 

And whilst Swindon have enjoyed a successful spell at the top of the table, Fryers admits more quality is needed as STFC enter their final twelve games of the season. 

“We’ve been in a good mood and it was a great win away from home against Northampton,” said Fryers.

“But as a team, we would’ve liked to have performed better and I believe that we’ve got a lot more in us.

“We’ve lacked quality and we can perform even better at times.

“We’ve all got a good attitude, we’ve all worked hard, but I think we can show more of that quality. 

“It’s about really stepping up and hopefully we can stay at the top,” he said. 

Arriving at SN1 on a free transfer in the summer, Fryers has become a mainstay in Richie Wellens’ side with the 27-year-old often being the preferred centre-back in a partnership with Mathieu Baudry. 

Fryers gave a positive analysis of his time at the club so far stating that he has enjoyed playing good football under the stewardship of Wellens, and feels that he has adapted to League Two well having previously never played in the division.

“It’s been good (discussing his progression at the club),” said Fryers.

“The players who I had played with before are my friends and when I knew I was coming here they were asking about how I thought I would get on here at Swindon and stuff like that.

“I had never played in League Two before but I met with the manager (Richie Wellens) and he explained what he wanted and how we would play and that suited me down to the ground. 

“We play some good football and it’s good,” he added.

“I played a few games in League One last season and it’s very similar. 

“We play a lot of football and it’s no different to that really.

“Some opposition we may face are a bit different but I think my personal development has been good. 

“I’ve filled in at centre-half and am learning something different every day,” he said.

However, whilst enjoying a productive season playing in Swindon colours, Fryers admits it has been hard adjusting too rotation in defence with Wellens forced into changes after periodical injuries to defensive personnel. 

“Yeh you do have to adjust to it,” said Fryers when speaking on rotation.

“That’s why we needed such a big squad and had to sign some new players. 

“You can never have too many players because you get injuries. 

“I’ve been injured myself a few times, and Mathieu has been injured as well. 

“We’ve all had different injuries and people have had to rotate,” said Fryers.