New Swindon Town signing Ryan Delaney said that the team need to go into games expecting to keep clean sheets.

The 27-year-old became Town’s fourth summer signing as he turned down a contract from Newport County to join Swindon and is the first central defender to arrive at the County Ground this window.

Last season was the club’s fifth-worst season from a defensive standpoint, conceding 99 goals across all competitions, and Delaney says that he arrives hoping to change the mentality defensively at the club.

He said: “I am hoping to help [with the defensive side] and bring my traits to the team and I am sure myself and the other players will all bounce off each other as everyone will have different strengths and weaknesses.

“It will be a mix of getting the best out of all of us as a squad and I think we can all improve on last year, but that goes without saying.

“You want to do better and you want to have clean sheets, that is our job first and foremost, we want that pressure on us to get a clean sheet on a Saturday.

“Doing that makes life a lot easier because it makes life easier for the forward players in terms of scoring goals, if we get that then they don’t need to be scoring three or four goals every game for us to win.

“First and foremost we have to look at trying to rectify that and I am looking forward to the challenge ahead.”

Delaney said that he had a discussion with Mark Kennedy ahead of agreeing to join Town and he spoke to him about trying to change the outlook at the club from last season.

He said: “[Mark spoke about] having a positive outlook and having change at the club, it wants to push forward.

“There is going to be expectation here, we have already got the fanbase, you can see that from the outside, so players know coming here that there is going to be pressure and expectation.

“But when things are going well then that is where you want to be and the stature of a club, there is history here and all of that plays a part in a player coming to a club.

“Mark told me that he had a plan in place and I want to be a part of that, I want to be a success at this club.”