Gavin Gunning said that he was hoping to strike the right balance between thinking about the future and trying to win in Swindon Town’s final game of the season.

Town will conclude the worst season in their history this Saturday as an out-of-form Morecambe side visit the County Ground with neither side competing at either end of the division.

Gunning confirmed that Swindon had informed the players who will not be offered contracts for next season of their fate this week but did not rule out the possibility of those players still taking to the field against the Shrimps.

The 33-year-old said that whilst his intention was to win the game and finish the season with some positivity, he would have to keep next season in mind with his team selection.

He said: “It is a tough one because obviously there is sentimentality and your heart says one thing but your head says you want to win the game.

“I think that player-wise, we have got to look to the future and that will be the key.

“We will pick the best team possible, but we would like to pick the young guys who have done really well and give them more minutes because it is better experience going towards next season.

“We have played the lads that we thought were the two brightest kids that we have got, it has been good that we have blooded them in and they have shown that they can play at this level.

“I think it is a fine balance because it can be a novelty at times with an end-of-season game.”

Despite the desire to continue giving a window into the future with the use of younger players, ending the season on a positive note is something that Gunning is hoping to do.

He said: “Anywhere outside the playoffs for this club is a failure, so it has been a failure this year and I think that it was a failure last year.

“I just hope that it [the game] is not a flat one at the end of the season, I hope that our lads will want to send the fans away on a high with a really positive performance.

“Hopefully it is really open at their end and solid down our end, we will see what happens, but I just really want to end the season on a positive and that is what we are looking for.”