Swindon away

[Jared]

So the first of 4 tough games in less than 2 weeks, and the first of two ‘six pointers’ against promotion rivals in a row sees the U’s travel to former Premier League side Swindon Town.

Swindon’s first 30 minutes at GGL is perhaps the best I’ve seen any team play against us this season. They’ve also won their last two with last gasp winners. It’s a tough task.

Hopefully some of those who had to miss Saturdays game at Walsall will be back for this.

[Andy K]

We've lost back to back games only 3 times this season and two of those involved cup games (FGR and Cardiff in August, Bristol Rovers and Newport in December). The only time it happened with 2 league games were Rochdale away and Swindon at home. Note that every trip so far down the M4 has ended up in defeat (Bristol Rovers again as well as those already mentioned). On each occasion in the league however it was either last minute goals, injury hit Sutton teams of in the case of Newport, both!

We've not visited the County Ground since late 1981, kind of bookending our trips to Wembley. I wonder if this is the longest gap between playing consecutive matches at the same ground? (Not really counting Wembley as its a different ground). I think that title goes to Spennymoor (even though it was against 2 different clubs), but this I think comes close.

To give it some perspective though, last time we played there, Dundo was around 8 months old. Mickley Stephens of course was a few years older.

[Amber Aleman]

I agree that Swindon were about the most impressive side we've faced this season, and they're going well (6th in the league table, 3rd in the form table). But their results, particularly at home, have been rather erratic. In their last six at the County Ground they've had two thumping wins (3-0 v Scunthorpe, 5-0 v Walsall), a draw (1-1 v Crawley) and two 2-1 defeats (v Exeter and Salford). On Saturday they had to rely on a goal in stoppage time to defeat Oldham 1-0.

We don't know how many (if any) of our injured players will be back this evening. The numbers weren't looking great on Saturday, and if the squad is as depleted as it was four weeks ago at Bristol Rovers then we could be in for a difficult match.

This will be our last opportunity of the season to pick up a point or more on a trip out west. The table is so tight now around the play-off spots that a win could lift us back from 7th to an automatic promotion place.

My recommended pub is the Beehive (55 Prospect Hill SN1 3JS). Situated between the Old Town (up the hill) and New Town (downhill), it's a quirky establishment built on five levels, and a popular art and music venue. Expect a few guest ales to supplement the regular beers from Greene King. Snacks available. It's a 10-15 minute walk from the County Ground.

[toothman]

Swindon troubled by injuries almost as badly as us however gleaned this from the NTT20 forum that I subscribe to. The source is usually pretty on the money , which implies that Payne who tormented us at GGL will play as will McKirdy. They used a back 5 against us before and we couldn’t work it out until it was too late. I have quoted the post verbatim below.

“ Swindon v Sutton

Just a couple of quick notes about the game as I’m busy all morning and then in the car en route to Swindon all afternoon (and by busy I mean playing golf).

The personnel issues have eased slightly in the last few days with the return of Harry McKirdy from suspension and the signing of Mandela Egbo. Egbo has been training with the club since being released in December at the end of the MLS season. It’s been a long road to get his signature over the line, with interest from abroad, but Garner’s finally got his man locked in until the end of the season. I thought Egbo was a full back but he came on on the right side of the front 3 on Saturday. Garner was his coach in the academy at Palace and knows him as well as anybody so will be interesting to see where he plays. It does look however like we’ll be without 1 other player from Saturday having been crocked due to a bad tackle, Garner didn’t name the player though. O’Brien, Davison and Mitchell-Lawson all required treatment following fouls. JML seems the least likely to have sustained an injury serious enough to keep him out. The most likely would be O’Brien but if it’s Davison then we’re dead in the water without an attacking threat really.

If it’s O’Brien that’s out then we’ll definitely stick with a 433, however it’s Davison out then unfortunately we’ll probably have to go back to a back 5 that’s been so ineffectual in the last few months. I’m going to go with my gut instinct and say it’s O’Brien that’s out. If this is the case then I think we’ll see Odimayo revert to centre back alongside Conroy with Hunt going to left back and Egbo playing at right back although Hunt and Egbo could be interchangeable. With McKirdy coming back in, I think we’ll see Jack Payne drop back to his more natural centre midfield role, probably in place of Aguiar. A bit harsh on Aguiar as he’s done well since coming in, but Payne’s unlikely to be fit enough for 90 minutes so he should get some minutes from the bench. As for the other wide attacker, the option is between Williams and JML. I was really impressed by JML on Saturday, he hasn’t had many opportunities to start but did well on Saturday so I’d opt for him again. Possible XI:
Wollacott
Egbo, Odimayo, Conroy, Hunt
Payne, Reed, Iandolo
JML, Davison, McKirdy

We’ve won 5 of our last 7 games including 3 of our last 4 at the County Ground. In itself, that’s promotion charge form, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. We’re in the midst of an injury crisis, although we appear to have stabilised after a disheartening showing last Tuesday. My main concern for this game is that Saturday was such an emotional occasion, and with the high of getting a 96th minute winner in front of over 11,000 fans, it’ll be so difficult to replicate that energy just 3 days later. We’re on a high right now after Saturday but we really need to “beware the Ides of March” (yeah, I’m dropping some Shakespeare on you at this time of the morning).

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that if we can win our ‘winnable’ games then we are well in the hunt for the playoffs still. This isn’t one of the games I had pegged as winnable. It’s not a free hit though, there’s a good opportunity to take some points from a promotion rival, but once we get through this game then 8 of our 9 remaining games are against teams currently ranked 12th or lower.”

I agree that Swindon were the most impressive that any side have looked against us alongside I would say Bristol Rovers. Wouu you I’d take a point but we really need a win otherwise we will start to drop off the back of the pack

[garethl]

Never imagined for one minute when I moved to Swindon 5.5 years ago that I’d watch Sutton play down the road in a league match. When I moved I did think I’d pop down for the odd evening game but it has never happened so my first visit to my now local club.

Agree with the above we have a difficult task against a good team. I hope we can take something from it, I would absolutely take a point, would set us up for a return to our own turf where we have a formidable record on Saturday.

Hope we can get a few back in and put up a good fight. Unfortunately a couple ‘rested’ on Saturday got no such thing and were on in the first half. At the very least it seems we’ll be able to freshen up in our wide attacking areas in terms of starters (assuming Randall and Ajiboye are fit to start).

[sufc1898]

I was slightly worried about our line up (and subs) until I read the Swindon twitter feed when their team was announced. Their fans don’t seem happy with the Swindon team. Good luck to the team. Safe journey to all the fans who have travelled.

[garethl]

With the side we had out I think we can be proud of the effort. 2 utterly disastrous shambolic goals conceded aside. Thought Lovatt did well on league debut (assume it was anyway). Thought the free kick for the 2nd goal was a foul on Omar first. That said the better team won and actually I think they would have scored another 1 or 2 if they kept playing rather than running clock down.

Centre midfield seems cursed for us at the moment, our first 6 choices in that position out by my reckoning!!

Desperately need some players back for Tranmere.

[Amber Aleman]

Swindon fans may have been worried about their team, but we surely had greater cause for concern. By my reckoning we had ten players missing this evening including all of our central midfield. We started with the recalled Adam Lovatt plus Omar in the centre of the park, Enzio starting up front and later swapping places with Omar. To only lose 2-1 was actually a pretty respectable outcome in those circumstances.

Congrats to Joe Kizzi for scoring the equaliser, his fourth goal in six games. (I think I've got that right!) But this was a proper team effort, with every player working his socks off.

Hesitation by Stuart Nelson when coming off his line allowed them to score their first, while for the second we were caught out by a free kick taken quickly from inside our half. Overall though, Swindon looked a less impressive side than they had at our place. They clearly have some talented players, but in the second half we saw the uglier side of their game as they resorted to fouling and time-wasting. Louis Reed was sent off in stoppage time, I think as the ref adjudged his tumble in the area to be simulation and showed him a second yellow.

We slip to 8th. The question now is whether Matt will be able to name a squad for Saturday. 🙄

[os]

A very brave performance tonight, actually undone by 2 basic errors on our part, although I am sure their second was offside?

As said we need some players back..

[jr]

Ben Goodliffe was holding a bag of ice at the end of the game!

Excellent effort from the lads. Special mention for Adam on his league debut. Thought he was excellent.

Man of the match for me though was Will. He seemed to be everywhere.

I’ll let Mark talk about the ref who was so weak.

[garethl]

They seemed to think both goals at that end were offside.

[halftimet]

Who is injured?

Bouzanis, Milsom, Barden, John, Smith, Eastmond, Davis, Beautyman Oloafe and Wilson from a squad of 25

Well done to all of the players who did us proud tonight.

[Andy K]

Can't say a bad word about us tonight. A threadbare team with a central midfield containing a striker and a player making his league debut after spending the season playing 2 levels below. Huge credit to both of those. And to the rest of the side. I feared a drubbing based on the Swindon we saw earlier in the season. That Swindon seemed to have disappeared and really they ended up limping to a win.

So the M4 curse strikes again. Now we have to hope that we can steady the ship at home on Saturday, and hope we have enough players to field a team. One more injury from tonight's game and we won't have enough players to play the game according to EFL rules.

[paz]

One can only hope that with so many games to come that Matt decided just not to risk players and given them time to recover for Sat. As this is an alarming amount of injuries.

[cheshire]

Im pretty sure the winner was offside, certainly seemed that way watching on the live stream....2 goals in 3 days that should not have stood but have ultimately cost us the points. I have this nagging feeling that the Wigan victory will end up being the season's zenith and the remainder of the season will see us limping towards the seasons finish line. However I hope I am being overly pessimistic.