Swindon Town

MATCH PREVIEW: Swindon Town vs Coventry City

Promotion hopefuls Swindon and Coventry face off against each other at the County Ground tomorrow night. The two sides were both relegated from League One last season, and they have both endured a steady start to life in League Two.

Since relegation from League One Town have brought in former Bury boss David Flitcroft who signed fifteen players in the transfer window. Swindon got their campaign off to a flyer after they beat Carlisle 2-1 at Brunton Park. Since their opening day win, The Robins have been very hit and miss with Town struggling to get a run going.

While, Coventry have also endured a squad rehaul. Mark Robins signed thirteen players in a busy window for Coventry. Like Swindon, Coventry got their season off to a flyer. They hammered Notts County 3-0 on the opening day, but they have also struggled to get a run going and have been very inconsistent.

 

Form

David Flitcroft’s Swindon have won their last two games against Stevenage and Forest Green Rovers respectively. The Robins have only won once at home this season, and have previously been embarrassed by Crawley and Barnet at the County Ground. However, Swindon have been impressive away from home and Town have the best away record in League Two. Swindon have won five of their nine league games this season, and they currently occupy seventh spot in League Two.

While, Coventry ended Exeter’s unbeaten run on Saturday as they ran out 2-0 winners against The Grecians. However, Mark Robins side have been less than impressive on the road. The Sky Blues have only managed one win from four away games. Coventry currently sit sixth in League Two.

Previous Meeting

Last time these two sides met was in February where Swindon ran out 3-1 winners at the Ricoh Arena. Swindon also beat The Sky Blues 1-0 at the County Ground last season. The last time Coventry beat Swindon was in January 2001 where they ran out 2-0 winners in the FA Cup.

Head to Head

The two have faced each other on 71 occasions. Swindon have won 26 games against Coventry while The Sky Blues have beaten Swindon on 24 occasions. The pair have drawn 21 times against each other.

Team News

Swindon

The home side will be without Dion Conroy who is out for nine months after he damaged his cruciate ligament. John Goddard and Kyle Knoyle may return to the first-team after injuries. While, it’s likely Chris Hussey will be out after he was forced off with an injury against Forest Green Rovers.

Coventry

The Sky Blues will be without Ryan Haynes and Tony Andreu.  Marc McNulty should be fit enough to play against Swindon. Stuart Beavon got injured in the warm-up on Saturday but there’s been no news. Peter Vincenti limped off on Saturday as well.

Dangermen

Luke Norris-  The Swindon striker has been on fire so far this season. He has already netted on six occasions this season, but he missed a number of chances against Forest Green Rovers on Friday. When the man has his shooting boots on, he is unstoppable in this division.

Jodi Jones- In the words of Coventry fan Callum Hands Jodi Jones is a “Lethal winger and too good for this league, but he may have a back injury due to carrying the entire side all season.” The 19-year-old has already scored four goals this season, and many predict that the winger has a bright future ahead of him. He causes defences problems, and he will be looking to test the Swindon backline which has been shaky in recent weeks.

Predicted Line-up’s

Swindon’s predicted line-up (4-4-2): Vigouroux, Taylor, Robertson, Lancashire, Purkiss, Mullin, Elsnik, Dunne, Gordon, Norris, Anderson.

Coventry predicted line-up (4-2-3-1): Burge, Grimmer, Willis, McDonald, Stokes, Doyle, Kelly, Jones, Nazon, Kelly-Evans, McNulty

Fans View

Here’s Swindon fan Chris Spindler’s view on Town’s start to the season and his prediction for the match:

We’ve started off with a great away record, beating Carlisle, Morecambe, Luton and Forest Green. However, our home form has been shambolic, with only one win in our opening four home games, and in these we have been smashed 3-0 by Crawley and 4-1 by Barnet. I personally think we have been really struggling at home and we even made hard work of the 3-2 win over Stevenage. I can still see errors that we had last season which is frustrating to see.

But, with a fresh new team and new manager hopefully, it’s only because they need to ‘gel together.’ However, we played awful on Friday at Forest Green, but we still managed to come away with a 2-0 win therefore if we can win games playing bad then that’s a good sign of a promotion team. With Coventry also looking like a team aiming for promotion, I think the score on Tuesday will be a 1-1 draw.

Here’s Coventry fan Callum Hands view on their start to the season, and his prediction for the game:

So far our season has been ridiculously hit and miss, we’ve beaten both of the two front runners with relative ease, ending Exeter’s unbeaten start on Saturday. But whilst you have that you’ve also got poor defeats to Yeovil and Cambridge. It really is too hard to predict with us at the moment, which means you have to look to history, and that tells us that we just won’t win at Swindon. We never do and we’re not really a club who breaks a voodoo with ease. Taking all that into a count I’ll sit on the fence and say 1-1.

You can take a look at Callum’s website Shooting To Win here.

Prediction

It’s fair to say that both sides are very unpredictable. While, Swindon may be good on the road they have been shaky at home, but Coventry have found it difficult on their travels. If Jodi Jones plays he will cause Swindon problems, however, if the Swindon side which dismantled Luton a few weeks ago show up then I feel like Town will win. With Coventry also not winning at the County Ground since 2001, I’m going for a 2-1 Swindon win. Despite Coventry having the best defence in the league so far if Luke Norris and Keshi Anderson link up with each other, I think The Sky Blues will find it difficult to contain them. However, Coventry proved what they can do last Saturday when they ended Exeter’s unbeaten run. Therefore I wouldn’t be surprised if Coventry walked away with all three points.

 

Previous Article
, 5 managers who are already under pressure in the Championship

5 managers who are already under pressure in the Championship

Next Article
Fulham

Fulham owner outlines future transfer plans

Related Posts