Stanley new boss Paul Cook admits he is desperate to ‘stop the rot’ and wants to do it in style at table-topping Swindon tomorrow.

Cook has been in charge for two games and it’s been two losses with the 11th placed Reds slipping seven points off the play-off zone.

He admits it will take time to get to know his new team and League Two – after five seasons in the Irish League with Sligo – but he has learnt a lot in his nine days with the Reds so far.

"We have lost three games in a week and I don’t think that’s happened for a long period of time and we go to Swindon now which is very difficult," said Cook, who turned 45 on Wednesday.

"We have to dust ourselves down quickly and come out, regroup with a smile on our face and fight. We have to stop the rot, get a result and move forward from there.

"We have a bigger picture to look at but I don’t like losing football games – nobody does – and we are not going to say that everything is rosy when we have lost three games on the bounce, but we are ready for the hard work and effort.

"I am learning about the players and the league and it’s new to me. But what we want is to get a fit group of lads, want them to be organised and to play a certain style of football, open and attractive, and move the ball around.

"Sometimes though you have got to have other elements to be able to do that. You have got to have the quality of players, standard of pitches and other things but what we might have to do is adapt to the league first and then move forward.

"We are not going to beat ourselves up when it’s not going our way and we certainly won’t gettoo excited when we do things well."

Cook admitted his start at Sligo was a slow one before he took them to three cup wins and up to second in the Irish League and into Europe.

And, when Reds boss John Coleman took over at Stanley in 1999, he didn’t win his first two league games – in fact he didn’t win until the fifth game of his tenure.

"Yes but he didn’t have Swindon next!" joked Cook, who has overseen defeats to Plymouth on Saturday and Crewe on Tuesday.

"But John and Jimmy Bell had a fantastic time at this club and put us in a great, healthy position and sometimes you have to take a step back to make two forward.

"The club have given me an opportunity to come in and make changes but I want to make changes for the better.

"In Ireland, it took a bit of time to get the club going the way I wanted.

"I have already seen an improvement. We have improved from Saturday to Tuesday but, while we put in the effort on Tuesday, we lacked a bit of quality at times.

"But these are things we can work on. We showed a good appetite for the game but we have got to be more hungry and show more desire.

"At the moment it’s a learning curve and it’s hard when you lose. But I love it here and in this league. It’s a smashing club.

"It’s new to me and it’s great coming into games. I am having to get to know the opposition and you’ve got to get to a lot of games and learn quickly.

"I am learning about our lads and they about me and it’s a great opportunity to take the club forward together."

The former Wolves and Burnley midfielder added: "I have been on good runs and bad ones in my career – and, on bad ones, it seems to get worse no matter what you do and,when you are on a good run, all the luck seems to go your way.

"But we’ll hang in there and stay strong. At the minute we don’t look like we are going to get into the play-offs, the way we are dropping points but we always aim to do the best we can.

"The supporters that travel won’t accept second best and we certainly won’t ."