Swindon make the short trip to South Bristol on Tuesday evening for what may be one of the feistiest West Country derbies in recent years. The Wiltshire club may have their work cut out however, against a City side who are undefeated in 10 games and have not fallen to defeat at home since mid-Febuary. Swindon, meanwhile, have been a little more inconsistent as they battle it out for the second automatic promotion place from League One. Saturday’s 3-0 defeat to fellow promotion chasers MK Dons may have dented Mark Cooper’s young side’s confidence, but with a squad boasting Australian international Massimo Luongo, a player reported to be subject of a $7 millions dollar bid from a Qatari club in January, anything can happen.
Last time out, Michael Smith’s goal Swindon put an end to Bristol City’s unbeaten start to the 2014/15 season in a fiery 1-0 win that saw City’s Wade Elliott sent packing after just two minutes at the County Ground. At the time, the defeat left Chelsea as the only team in the country to have avoided defeat this campaign. Animosity over the result wasn’t helped by Swindon captain Nathan Thompson’s lively celebrations in front of the Bristol club’s travelling hoards at full time and winger Harry Toffolo being pictured celebrating Elliott’s sending off leading to calls for bans from City fans on social networks.
Whilst escaping a ban that time, Thompson will be unavailable for Tuesday’s clash due to injury so could be replaced by new signing Sam Ricketts who made his debut in that 3-0 defeat to MK Dons. November’s derby winner, Michael Smith, will be one to watch but strike partner and Swindon’s top scorer Andy Williams will be a fear to the City players and fans alike with 20 league goals this season already. As mentioned earlier, Australian midfielder, Luongo, can always pull something out of nowhere, and was named as player of the tournament at this year’s Asian Nations Cup.
City, meanwhile, have a fully-fit squad and one that any Championship club would be proud of. Top scorer Aaron Wilbraham is a consistent goal-getter and scored the South Bristol side’s only goal, in their 1-1 draw with Oldham last time out. Another well known name to a number of you is City’s own midfield star, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas. JET, as he’s lovingly known in Bristol, is a powerful player who has the height and strength to outmuscle the comparatively petit players on the Swindon team. Expect the Swindon boo-boys to get on the back of former fan favourite Aden Flint, who swapped Wiltshire for Bristol in the summer of 2013, and who will undoubtably make the derby atmosphere at little bit more lively.
Prediction:
Despite the low-scoring game we saw at the County Ground in November, I expect Swindon’s leaky defence, combined with Steve Cotterill’s physical style of football to play a staring role. On their day, the Wiltshire side can beat any team in League One, however I don’t anticipate Tuesday to be that day.
I predict a feisty affair, a sending off from either team wouldn’t be surprising and a high-scoring game is likely, no matter the winner. But ultimately a 3-1 home win is the result I’m predicting, with Emmanuel-Thomas playing a staring role.
