After another dramatic week at Swindon Town, attentions return to the pitch as Gillingham arrive for another Saturday of League One action at the County Ground.
This could be a very heated confrontation with Gillingham, Gillingham fans are still crying over events in the 1980’s and many of their consider Swindon to be their biggest rivals as they have no real local rivals.
Vital Quotes:
“Gillingham will be a dangerous side to face and they proved that by beating Leyton Orient in midweek.
“This is a cut-throat league and anything can happen results wise. Aaron Brown is someone we know well although I don’t know whether he will feature on Saturday.
“David Graham is someone who has played for me before at Sheffield Wednesday and is in good form. If we don’t treat Gillingham properly then we could be in for a surprise. Iffy Onuora is, alongside Mick Docherty, in temporary charge at the moment and I have a lot of time for Iffy. He is a nice, football man and I have had a few beers with him in the past and I am sure he is busy plotting Swindon’s downfall on Saturday as we speak!
Swindon Town Boss Paul Sturrock
“I’ve had a few phone calls and text messages this week but I said we need to get the Leyton Orient game out of the way first and then see what happens. It will be nice to go back there as I’ve got a lot of friends there. It didn’t quite finish for me there but it was a great learning experience and although there were a lot of issues, I enjoyed the learning curve.”
Gillingham Caretaker Manager Iffy Onuora
Swindon Town Team News:
Town will be without Jack Smith who dislocated his shoulder against Swansea on Tuesday. Andy Nicholas, Barry Corr, Ady Williams and Hasney Aljofree are out with injuries.
Player to watch: Simon Cox
Cox has been fantastic since arriving since Reading on loan last month. Cox scored a sensational goal at Millwall last week as well as scoring a goal against Bournemouth in Town’s last home game.
Gillingham Team News:
Former Swindon Town midfielder Aaron Brown who was certain to be public enemy number one is set to miss the game with an injury. Steve Lomas and Mark Bentley will also be out. Defender Duncan Jupp could return after being out of contention for 9 months with a hamstring injury. David Graham could also be set to return.
Player to watch: Gary Mulligan
The Ireland Under 21 striker has scored 2 goals in 6 appearances this term with three of those appearances as starts.
Match Facts & Stats
Swindon Town are a 51-32-46 lifetime against Gillingham. The last time the 2 clubs played was on Valentines Day 2006 when the lazy Jamie Cureton scored a goal for Town to give them the 1-0 win. Previous to that Town lost 3-0 at Priestfield thanks to goals from Darren Byfield, Michael Flynn and Neil Harris.
Match Prediction:
3-1 Swindon Town win, Iffy Onuora will be looking to put one over on his former club but hopefully the team spirit at Swindon will end a terrible week for Swindon fans with a smile.
Next Fixtures:
Johnstones Paint Trophy – Swindon Town V Cheltenham Town, Tuesday 9 October 2007, 7:45pm
