Match Zone

Match Preview – Swindon Town (H)

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Tomorrow night sees Swindon Town arrive at the Alexandra Stadium and our recent record against the Robins see us winless in the last 9 meetings between the teams – our last win coming in October 2012.

So far this season they have 4 victories, 4 draws and 2 losses in the league. They have beaten Macclesfield Town, Tranmere Rovers, Morecambe and Yeovil Town, they’ve drawn against Crawley Town, Forest Green Rovers and MK Dons (all back-to-back), as well as Oldham Athletic on Saturday whilst their only defeats have come at league-leaders Lincoln City and Bury. In the EFL Cup they lost 1-0 to Forest Green while they have had mixed fortunes in the EFL Trophy, losing 4-0 at home to Chelsea’s youngsters before a home win against Newport County.

Looking back in the archives, the two teams have met 36 times with Swindon leading the head-to-head with 18 wins to 12 with 6 draws. Crewe’s biggest win came in a 3-1 victory at the County Ground in December 2012 while Town’s biggest win came at the same ground in August 2013 where they won 5-0. Last season saw 2 wins for Swindon, a 3-0 victory at the Alexandra Stadium in December was followed by a 4-3 defeat for the Alex away a month later.

Who are the officials for the game?

The officials for this game see Ben Toner as the man in the middle where he is assisted by Alan Clayton and Richard Wild with Andrew Hendley being the fourth official. During the last 5 seasons, the following Crewe games have been refereed by Toner:

  • Crewe Alexandra 1-1 Burton Albion (5th Match 2016) – Haber
  • Crewe Alexandra 3-3 Hartlepool United (16th August 2016) – Dagnall, Kiwomya, Cooper
  • Morecambe 0-0 Crewe Alexandra (2nd January 2017)
  • Blackpool 2-2 Crewe Alexandra (18th February 2017) – Turton, Dagnall
  • Yeovil Town 2-0 Crewe Alexandra (14th October 2017)
  • Crewe Alexandra 3-0 Crawley Town (16th December 2017) – Ainley, Dagnall (2)
  • Crewe Alexandra 1-2 Exeter City (20th February 2018) – Miller
  • Luton Town 3-1 Crewe Alexandra (14th April 2018) – Bowery

I asked Swindon Town supporter Steven Fyfe for his thoughts going into the game.

What do you think of Swindon’s transfer activity over the summer?

I am still not convinced we have the squad required to mount a successful promotion push, but we do have a handful of players more than capable of playing higher.

What do you think the team will be for tomorrow’s game?

McCormick, Woolfenden, Nelson, Lancashire, Knoyle, McGlashan, Diagouraga, Alzate, Dunne, Anderson, Adebayo

Who would you say is the one player that we should look for in the Town team?

Alzate in midfield is the player that is exciting most fans and Nelson (CB) is a proper defender.

Seeing as your recent record against the Alex has been good, how do you think this game will go?

I think we are more than capable of winning but I also said that against Oldham. I think we will create chances and miss a number of them and will gift you at least one guilt edge opportunity, but will you take it? I feel we have to win to try and build some momentum.

What would think would be a successful season for Swindon and who do you think will be promoted and relegated at the end of the season?

Promotion is the only thing that will resemble a successful season and as I said in the intro, I think we will fail (currently).

You can’t look past Lincoln getting promoted. I think Colchester are a decent shout too.

To go down you have to say Macclesfield but then I also felt Notts County, Cambridge and Grimsby would be much, much higher than they are.

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