COLIN Todd is ready to wield the axe to cut out the blight that threatens to wreck Wanderers promotion hopes.

One point from three demoralising games after a confidence boosting 15-match unbeaten run have left the Reebok boss in uncompromising mood ahead of tomorrow night's home game against Barnsley.

He refuses to say whether the changes will come immediately but he was so angry after Saturday's 3-3 draw away to struggling Swindon that he warned he would not tolerate much more from players who have dramatically fallen from grace in the space of eight calamitous days.

Successive defeats by Crewe and Huddersfield and an untidy performance at the County Ground have seen Wanderers slide from second to fifth in the table, prompting the manager to question his players' state of mind.

"We have the experience," he insists, "because most of my players have been through it before, whether it's been at this club or elsewhere. They know what's required of them.

"They have the ability but they also need the mental strength."

Todd insists he is putting no pressure on his players, despite their recent loss of form, but admits they have brought pressures on themselves with their recent poor performances.

They took little consolation from Saturday's defeat, apart from showing the character to come back for a draw after trailing 3-1.

"At least we managed to take a point when we didn't play well," the manager said. "We played poorly and got a point yet we'd played extremely well at Hudderesfield and got nothing. Such is the game."

Nevertheless, he refuses to admit that Wanderers have blown their chances of an automatic promotion place.

"I wouldn't agree that we can only make the play-offs," he insists. "There are still 12 games to go and there will be teams below us who still think they have a chance so we've still got to go for that second spot."

Eidur Gudjohnsen, Bo Hansen and Andy Todd will all come into the reckoning for the Barnsley game, if the manager decides to make changes. But supporters will be hoping for the return of Paul Warhurst, who was the cornerstone of the defensive revival that put Wanderers in sight of a Championship challenge until he was sidelined by a hamstring injury.

Pencilled in for a return at Swindon, he didn't make the trip but was having a fitness check today.

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