Swindon v Scunthorpe pre match chat and matchday thread

[swindonmaniac]

7-0

Corners ??!!.

[swindonmaniac]

What time do they open the TE gates these days. Got a mate who might want to sneak in for the last 5..

What, Goals ??!!!.

[Flashheart]

Looking forward to this.

It's so good to be feeling excited about football again. It wasn't that long ago that I stopped bothering for evening matches.

[Peter Venkman]

Scunthorpes preview of todays match.

Following Saturday’s gritty 2-2 draw at play-off candidates Port Vale, the Iron now face the formidable task of travelling to face top of the table Swindon Town in the re-arranged fixture, writes Owen Slipp.

The Opposition

The clash comes at a perfect time for Richie Wellens’ side who find key players returning from injury after their game at Mansfield on Saturday was one of the fixtures to fall victim to Storm Jorge.

Unbeaten in their last four games since the 3-1 loss at Colchester at the back end of January, the Robins will be looking at this game in hand over fellow promotion hopefuls as the perfect opportunity to extend their gap at the top of League Two and push closer to a return to League One 3 years after their relegation.

With a strike force containing the country’s top scorer in the form of Eoin Doyle, coupled with League Two’s second best defensive record, expect to see Swindon Town make the jump up in divisions come the end of the season.

Opportunities Presented

Russ Wilcox’s side travel down hoping to produce what would be their biggest scalp of the season, and with 7 points from the last 12 available find themselves in luke warm form. If the task of going to the league leaders and trying to get some form of a result wasn’t already tough enough, the side will be without two of their key men in Abo Eisa and Kevin Van Veen, both having picked up worrying injuries at Vale Park – the latter of which is now deemed to not be as bad as initially perceived.

This presents opportunities for players waiting on the sidelines to come in and make their mark – none more so than Devarn Green and George Miller following their exploits at the weekend. Green, replacing the injured Eisa late in the first half gave the iron an extra dimension going forward and produced an excellent assist for the first equaliser, whereas Miller finally got his first goal for the club in dramatic fashion to rescue the side a well earned point, a goal that should give the Barnsley loanee a big boost in confidence.

The injury to Eisa could also pave the way for Yasin Ben El-Mhanni to make his long awaited return to the first team squad – something looking all the more likely following his absence from the u23s for Monday’s fixture against Doncaster Rovers.

Defensive Mindsets

The form of club captain Andy Butler appears to have been rejuvenated under Wilcox’s tenure, and he will have to continue his recent good run of form to help the defence try and find a way to shut out the league’s most potent strike force in Eoin Doyle and Jerry Yates.

Wilcox may turn to Cameroonian midfielder Yann Songo’o for his first start since his injury picked up in the derby in December, helping to provide what will be a much needed extra line of defence alongside James Perch.

Young Lewis Butroid and Jacob Bedeau could yet again find themselves in for a long 90 minutes like at Port Vale, as they are likely to face up against pacy widemen Lloyd Isgrove and Diallang Jaiyesimi, so will be looking for an extra bit of protection from the players in front – a key match up that could decide the end result of the game.

Last Time We Met

The last time the two sides faced off was the opening weekend of the season. Coming into the game with hopes of at least a play off finish come the end of the season, iron fans were soon brought back to down to earth with their side being dealt a lesson in counter attacking football – Jerry Yates and Keshi Anderson grabbing the goals in a 2-0 win for the Robins.

Looking Forward

Set to be Wilcox’s toughest test at the helm so far, the clash under the lights at the County Ground will certainly lay down the marker to see just where this youthful iron side are. It is set to go one of two ways – we could be in for a very long and painful night or come away leaving a lot of people’s eyebrows raised. Here’s hoping for the latter, and then we can look forward to the big one….

[Gnasher]

Hopefully Scunny will be preoccupied by their big local derby against Grimsby on Saturday, plus they are missing both first choice strikers.

It all just seems too nice and cushy for us, therefore I expect Scunny to make this a harder game than most are expecting.

Looking forward to an evening home match under the lights for the first time in ages.

2-1 Town

[normy]

I still fear the old Tuesday evening "hoodoo",  but hell  we should have more than enough to win if we play our normal gain.

[Peter Venkman]

Scunny are currently sat in 18th place having won 10 games this season, their form over the last 10 games has been LLDDLLWLWD they have drawn 10 games and lost 15 scoring 44 goals and conceding 52 times.

Kevin van Veen is their leading scorer on 10 goals who is out injured tonight (apparently) with Alex Gilliead on 6 followed by Abo Eisa on 5 goals who is also apparently injured tonight.

In their last 4 games they beaten Forest Green and Cheltenham at home both 1-0 and on Saturday got a draw at promotion hopefuls Port Vale 2-2 thanks to a last minute equalizer, this alongside a 2-0 home defeat by Cambridge making up the last 4 results.

In home games vs the (other) Iron we have played 14 times, with Scunthorpe only winning once at the County Ground, Ironically that was the last time we played against them in 2017, a 2-1 defeat. Swindon have won 7 of the 14 games played here with 6 being draws, Swindon scoring 25 times and conceding 13.

Scunthorpes newly appointed manager Russ Wilcox has now been in charge for 5 games and results under him have improved a bit with him winning twice, drawing once and losing twice since replacing Paul Hurst on a short term contract up until the end of the season.

Scunthorpe have no players or staff with a playing connection to Swindon Town, Swindon have no players with a playing connection with Scunny but have Steve Mildenhall who had a loan spell there, U18s boss David Farrell was also on loan there.

In the first game of the season Swindon came out as very comfortable winners against one of the pre season favourites to go straight back up, Town winning 2-0 up there thanks to goals by Yates and Anderson, with Scunthorpe offering very little attacking threat against us, both teams will have changed personel a fair bit since that day though with at least 4 of our starting line up that day probably not starting tonight them being McCormick, Conroy, Anderson and Woolery.

[swindonmaniac]

Don't Panic ....... a comfortable two goal win tonight. All will be well at the County Ground.

[BambooToTheFuture]

Although past results mean nothing seems to be very often that both teams score. With the Town scoring nearly double that Scunny have over time gives a ratio of nearly 2:1 so I'll go for that.


2 - 1
(Hunt, Doyle (an OG that he watches while having some shortbread with Benda); Gillead)
Att:7301
(219 Cunnies)
Floodlight trouble before the start of the match.
Nostradamus to be in attendance (he wants to buy the club).

[Peter Venkman]

I have a feeling that due to it being a cold midweek game that we will struggle to beat 7,000 tonight.

My revised guess for the gate is 6,789 with only 85 Scunnys in attendance.

[BambooToTheFuture]

Think we'll just tip the 7k but maybe less Ferrous breathers.

So I'll reassess to 7182.

[Reg Smeeton]

I have a feeling that due to it being a cold midweek game that we will struggle to beat 7,000 tonight.

My revised guess for the gate is 6,789 with only 85 Scunnys in attendance.

World Health Organisation guidance is for the over 60's to avoid crowds due to Coronavirus.... going to have an impact tonight

[RedRag]

World Health Organisation guidance is for the over 60's to avoid crowds due to Coronavirus.... going to have an impact tonight

No need to open the Arkells then.

[Peter Venkman]

World Health Organisation guidance is for the over 60's to avoid crowds due to Coronavirus.... going to have an impact tonight

When I came to the Exeter game a few weeks back I sat down near the front of the Arkells and I would say that as many as 1 in 4 in that area of the stand would have been 60+ age range.

[BoA Vagabond]

More pessimistic on numbers with 6,789 noisy reds and 78 from near Grimsby. 3-0 home win.