Swindon finish their campaign on Saturday as Paul Warne and Milton Keynes Dons visit the Nigel Eady County Ground with neither side having promotion or relegation on the line.

However, Clarke said he and the rest of the Swindon squad will be sad to see the season come to a close, given how well they have played down the stretch.

He said: “You don’t want it to end when you are winning games.

“I have always felt the same way at the end of seasons when you are not playing for anything, it always inspires you to go out and win a few games.

“With the way that we are playing, we are fit, and we are doing well – it is annoying that it is coming to an end, and that is it, we pack our stuff up and go away for six weeks.

“It is frustrating, but this is part and parcel of it, your body does need time to recover.

“In some respects, you don’t want it to end, but it is good to have time to reflect and rest and get ready to go again.

“So, the lads don’t want it to end. It has come too soon, as we think if we had had another couple of games, then we probably would have [got into the playoffs], because we are one of the form teams and with the way we are playing, nobody wants to play against us.”

Clarke said that although there was nothing tangible riding on the game, Swindon would still be going all out to finish their season in the right way.

He said: “It is always a problem for teams at the end of the season to just go out with a whimper, but we don’t want to do that.

“We have set our stall out and it can have a hell of an impact on the start of next season.

“People you might want to sign will look at results and think we are on an upward trajectory, and want to be a part of it.

“We won’t go out without fighting, we will work as hard as we possibly can to put on a performance, and hopefully we can get one last win in front of the fans.”