County will look to build on that brave, battling performance against Premier League Leicester City in midweek, as we return to league action on Saturday against last season’s play-off semi-finalists Swindon Town.
Taking on a Leicester side with eight full internationals and over £100 million worth of talent in their starting XI, County took the 2021 FA Cup winners all the way before missing out on penalties after a 0-0 draw.
It was a special atmosphere inside Edgeley Park that night with over 10,000 fans inside the ground, something Dave Challinor will be hoping to use as a catalyst to spark an upturn in our league form after a slow start to the campaign.
Last weekend’s narrow defeat at Mansfield left us with one win from our first five games in League 2 – we currently sit 21st in the league table, three points behind Saturday’s opponents.
Swindon were not in Carabao Cup action themselves in midweek, having lost to Walsall in the first round, but got their first win of the season last weekend when they beat basement side Rochdale 3-0 at the County Ground. They currently sit 13th in the table on six points, four points off a play-off spot.
Our Opponents:
Swindon Town’s spell in League One after winning the 2020 League Two title proved to be a brief one, with the Robins relegated straight back down to the fourth tier after finishing a lowly 23rd in the 2020/21 season.
After a miserable campaign that saw them concede a division-high 89 goals that year, the Club parted company with manager John Sheridan with four games remaining after a short and unsuccessful five-month spell in charge for the now-Oldham boss.
Former Colchester boss John McGreal was initially appointed as his replacement on a two-year-deal, but after just a month in charge and without taking charge of a single game, he and his assistant resigned, claiming issues behind the scenes had made their position ‘untenable’.
The Club were in the midst of a takeover bid at the time, and on the same day that Australian Clem Morfuni took charge of the Club he moved quickly to appoint former Bristol Rovers boss Ben Garner as the Swindon’s new, new manager.
Despite taking over a side that had just seven registered players at the time, Garner quickly set about building a vibrant and exciting young side at The County Ground that would go on to have a very successful season in League Two.
His side finished the season as top goalscorers in the fourth tier with 77 goals, 19 of them coming from enigmatic forward Harry McKirdy, and went into the final league game of the campaign still with an outside chance of securing automatic promotion straight back to League One.
Despite a 3-0 win at Walsall on the last day, the side finished three points shy of promotion in 6th place – booking a play-off semi-final date with eventual winners Port Vale. Despite winning the first-leg 2-1 at home, a 1-0 defeat at Vale Park saw the tie go to penalties, which Vale eventually won 6-5 before going on to beat Mansfield at Wembley.
The Club were dealt a significant blow over the Summer with the loss of highly-rated boss Garner, who left to join Charlton Athletic in League One. In his place, the Wiltshire side elected to appoint Garner’s assistant Scott Lindsey for his first full-time role in management, providing a degree of stability for the side going into the new season.
Despite enduring a nightmare first game in charge, losing 3-0 at Harrogate Town, the side haven’t been beaten in the league since, drawing their next three games before finally getting their first win against Rochdale last time out.
They will be without main man McKirdy this weekend however, with news coming through this week that the forward has been handed a retrospective three-match ban following an altercation in the referee’s dressing room at half-time of their 0-0 draw with Salford, having been sent off in the first-half.
One to Watch:
In McKirdy’s absence, Swindon may turn to Wales international Jonny Williams for inspiration. The 28-year-old midfielder’s talent has never been in question, with 33 caps for his country and time spent in the Premier League with Crystal Palace, but a series of injuries has meant he’s yet to live up to his potential.
He managed to make 40 appearances in League Two last season for The Robins, the most he’s ever made in a single season, and was on the scoresheet in that win against Rochdale last weekend.
Match Stats:
- This will be the 35th meeting between the two sides and the first since 2010. County have won 11 of the previous meetings, with Swindon winning 16.
- Our last win against Swindon came in March 2007, a 3-0 win that saw County set a new Football League record of nine consecutive wins without conceding a goal.
- Tuesday’s game was the first time this season County have failed to score, having done so in each of our first six games. It is our longest scoring streak at the start of a season since 2007/08, when we scored in our first ten matches.
- County are still searching for a goal in the first-half this season – all seven of our goals so far have come after the break.
