After back-to-back home defeats, Town are on the road again this weekend with a trip to face Swindon Town this Saturday.
Simon Weaver’s side are still well positioned in terms of the playoffs heading into March and towards the business end of the season.
Our opponents
A 3-1 home win over Tranmere in midweek sees the Robins come into the game in 17th spot on 43 points.
They possess a strong home record, registering nine wins and 30 points from 17 games and have been defeated only once in five games since the turn of the year.
The January transfer saw the Robins hit hard with Jake Young and his 16 goals in just 22 starts recalled by parent club Bradford City, whilst midfielder Daniel Kemp was similarly rcalled by MK Dons after a stellar half of the season that saw him net 14 times and add eight assists.
Previous meetings
The two sides played out a 1-1 draw earlier in the season, with Jack Muldoon levelling after Jake Young had fired the visitors ahead in the first half.
There have been two previous encounters at the County Ground with Swindon getting the upper hand last season in a 3-0 win with first half goals from Rushian Hepburn-Murphy and a late strike by Joe Tomlinson doing the damage.
In the 2021/22 season the points were shared when a controversial late penalty from Jack Payne denied Town victory after Jack Diamond had opened the scoring.
The man in charge
Gavin Gunning is the man in the charge, having been appointed as caretaker boss to replace the outgoing Michael Flynn.
During his playing career Gunning made over 300 appearances for a number of clubs, notably for Dundee United, Forest Green and Port Vale.
Ones to watch
The club added Aaron Drinan and Sean McGurk during the January window on permanent deals as well as bringing in Conor McCarthy on loan from Barnsley and former striker Harry McKirdy returned from Scottish side Hibernian. Both McGurk and McCarthy have made strong starts since arriving.
The veteran presence of Charlie Austin in attack could cause problems for the Town defence whilst the back line will be marshalled by Udoka Godwin-Malife and Frazer Blake-Tracey.
George McEachran has had an impressive season so far in the heart of the midfield.
History
The Robins were formed as Swindon AFC back in 1879 before settling on Swindon Town in 1883.
Initially members of the Western and Southern League they were elected to the Football League in 1920, beginning in the third tier before securing their first promotion in 1963 to Division Two.
The club shocked Arsenal in the 1969 League Cup final to secure their first major trophy, but suffered subsequent relegations to end up back in the bottom division in the early 1980’s.
With former Manchester United player Lou Macari at the helm the club earned back-to-back promotions in the mid-1980’s to return to the Division Two but were denied a further promotion in 1990 due to breaching Football League regulations.
Future Chelsea and England manager Glenn Hoddle finally took Town to the top flight in 1993 but they were relegated at the first attempt before suffering a second successive relegation a season later. Although immediately bouncing back they were relegated again in 2000 and have remained in the bottom two divisions over the past two decades.
Team news
Simon Weaver continues to be without long term absentees Lewis Thomas, Rod McDonald and Sam Folarin but will hope to get Matty Foulds back after he missed the midweek game against Newport.