SLEEPLESS nights, a crisis of confidence and a shambles of a training session was hardly the ideal preparation for Andy King's first game in charge of Swindon Town.

The charismatic caretaker boss revealed he had lived a nightmare few days leading up to the clash at Notts County. The politics of Colin Todd's departure had taken their toll.

King's feet had hardly touched the floor since being thrust into the County Ground hot-seat, but he was loving every minute of it.

Come Saturday morning and he had to remind himself that it was only a football match he was preparing for.

It was a situation he had been through a thousand times before as manager, player and coach. But Saturday was different.

"I have not had any sleep at all over the past couple of days," he said. "I said to my wife Barbara, who was here with me, that I was just glad to finally be at a football match.

"She has been incredibly strong for me over the past couple of days, she has been the one who I have leaned on. When I woke on Saturday morning I knew that all the politics would now take a back seat. I felt at ease for the first time in days because I was getting back to the basics of football."

King is football mad. His sheer enthusiasm for the game simply rubs off on everyone he meets. But the events of last week were enough to test even the toughest of souls.

"The last few days had all be about Colin Todd and the politics surrounding his departure." he said. "I didn't enjoy that and I was just pleased to get down to the football at last. I was totally drained.

"I had not been out on the training pitch with the players as much as I would have liked. I had a little session with them on Friday and it was a complete shambles and I was worried stiff.

"I had to sit down and say to myself that I knew what I was doing. That I had been there before and that it was only a game of football. I had to remind myself that I knew exactly what I was doing that it was a football game."

From first viewing it was clear that Andy King does know what he is doing.

He sent out a side full of new belief and passion. A side willing to fight for every ball and one which showed a level of commitment missing in recent matches.

King was a happy man in that respect. But the fact that his side lost a game they so clearly could have won more than put a spoiler on the day.

"Overall I am very pleased with them, but I am just very aware that we need to turn things around for the club's sake," he said.

"I can't keep saying to people well done, great performance, only to see us keep losing. We now need a result, when I say a result I mean a win against Cambridge against Tuesday night.

"I hope the players show the same commitment, the same effort and the same way of playing. They are going to be encouraged to do so but we do not know about this game. We can't tell what is going to happen."

A win would give his chances of keeping the Town job a massive boost.

"Saturday is now out of the way," he said. "I am very happy with the players but unhappy with the result. I am happy with the performance, the attitude and the response from the players under difficult situation.

"I love being a manager but I am on a tightrope and I have no idea how long I have here. I am desperate for a victory.

"I enjoy it and I believe the passion within me has come through on the pitch in those players. But we cannot go on losing games when we have played well like that. I want to see it transformed into points.

"You see, I love being a manager, I love being a coach, I loved working with Colin Todd and I love Swindon Town FC. I will work anywhere, even in the non-league if I have to. But I want to do a job here at Swindon."

He knows that only he can earn himself the job permanently.

"It is not down to the players. It is down to me. If I don't know what I am doing then I will look an idiot, the team will look like idiots and they will fail. It is down to me," he said. "The players will respond to anyone, that is their job. They are professionals, they work to a contract and they work for Swindon.

"I would fail if Andy King does not know what he is doing. But what you do as a manager is hope to see a response from the players and I have certainly seen that.

"Unfortunately we are talking about a 3-2 defeat here and not a 7-2 victory which was quite capable of happening with the chances that we all had. That is not a lie to those of you who were not at the game."

Those who were at the game were treated to Town's best display of the season and a very enjoyable match.

"I am pleased that the fans who travelled to County went back with a little bit of hope from our performance," he said. "I feel for those people because they have had a tough week.

"I told the lads that it was the first time I had seen a set of fans clapping a side off who had just lost 3-2. Those fans were brilliant and they must know that they saw a good performance, they all know football.

"I cannot accept this though because we did not win. Come Tuesday night, even if it needs a lesser performance to get it, I want to win at all costs."

More of the same on Tuesday and King should get his wish.

Click here for our gallery of action-packed shots from the game