PREVIEW: SWINDON TOWN V YEOVIL TOWN

Yeovil Town are back in Sky Bet League One action this coming Saturday with a trip to Swindon Town.

With just three games left in the season, both sides are starting to look beyond the current campaign and with each side knowing their fate, there could be an interesting match in prospect.

As we know, Yeovil are preparing for life in League Two following relegation, but under new manager Paul Sturrock the Glovers have picked up four points across two improved performances.

A draw against Notts County may well have confirmed the drop into the bottom tier of the Football League, but when backed up with a very impressive win over Sheffield United on Saturday it adds to the feel good factor around Huish Park.

As for Swindon, they secured their play of place at the weekend, beating Rochdale 4-2.

That result, combined with a 1-0 win over Peterborough previously put an end to a tough run of 3-0 defeats.

The Robins succumbed by that score line to Bristol City, MK Dons and Gillingham in the past month.

Their success this season has come from their attacking prowess this morning, a point proven by Ben Gladwin’s first half hat trick on Saturday.

It took the midfielder just 20 minutes from first to last goal.

Their attacking repertoire includes, not one, but two former Glovers with an eye for goal.

Jon Obika joined Swindon from Spurs after no fewer than four loan spells at Huish Park, he partners Andy Williams, a Yeovil player across two spells including a loan stint in the Championship that was curtailed by injury.

Swindon boss Mark Cooper may make a few changes this week, firstly to rest a few niggly injuries ahead of the play offs and secondly to cover for some absent members of his team.

Wes Foderingham is being monitored after a knock last week, while Jordan Turnbull and Raphael Branco are serving bans.

Branco was charged with violent conduct following some… industrial… treatment of Bristol City’s Aiden Flint during their televised clash.

However, Yaser Kasim is back from suspension after an accumulation of yellow cards triggered a ban.

For Sturrock’s men, the news is pretty much the same as it has been of late – the long term absentees are out and just about everyone else is fit and raring to go.

Chris Weale has returned to the bench after the best part of four months out of action and Joe Edwards is back on the training pitch – but the return to competitive action might be asking too much too soon of the club captain.

The new Yeovil gaffer may choose to try out some more of his squad as he makes some decisions on who will stay in his plans as the club embarks on the challenge of League Two.

When the sides met earlier in the season, the sides played a 1-1 draw in Somerset.

James Hayter sent the home side 1-0 up, but that man Andy Williams came back to haunt his former employers scoring an equaliser deep into the second half.

The game saw Swindon reduced to ten men when skipper Nathan Thompson was sent off for two bookable offenses.

It is no surprise that the two sides have met a number of times due to the geography of the two sides, but under Football League rules, the majority of meetings have ended in the Robins’ favour.

The last Yeovil victory came three games back, Swindon being one of the few sides to win both home and away during the Glovers’ promotion season of 2012/13.

However, back in 2011, a single Dean Bowditch goal snatched a 1-0 away win for Yeovil.

The sides played out an epic 3-3 draw prior to that, Bowditch again at the double, with Gavin Williams notching the third.

Now, this may be clutching at straws, but the last eight meetings between the sides have followed an interesting pattern.

A Yeovil win followed by two losses and draw… that then repeats; Win – lose – lose – draw.

So, if that continues, Saturday will see a Yeovil win – you can’t argue with statistics like that.

There is still time for you to be there on Saturday, you can buy tickets on the day at Swindon, but you may want to think about Yeovil’s last home game of the season the following Saturday.