After a battling away win at Bradford City on Saturday afternoon, Swindon Town are on the road again this Tuesday evening with a trip to Exeter to take on Matt Taylor Exeter City side in a re-arranged fixture from Boxing Day.
It was a battling tough away win on Saturday, the joy and buzz from the away end at Bradford was amazing. A lot of relief Joy and celebration after the final whistle, Swindon rode their luck at times in two spells in the game. At the beginning of the first half, buoyed by their own home support. Bradford City came out of the blocks quicker and caused the backline of Swindon Town problems. Got the goal which they deserved; Swindon equalised three minutes later thanks to the hitman Harry McKirdy. But in the second half, Swindon Town had to dig deep and show resilience, a quality that has been lacking in this side at times this season.
A switch of tactics from Ben Garner proved to be a masterstroke, Akin Odimayo injury in the second half forced the head coach’s hand. Mathieu Baudry came on to replace the injured Odimayo and switched to a back three. It worked brilliantly and Swindon Town created more chances and were dominating the game. The chance came in the sixth minute of added time when Ellis Iandolo was brought down by Bradford Goalkeeper Alex Bass, who had a very good game in goal. Jack Payne with ice in veins calmly slotted the penalty down the middle. Cue the celebrations in the away end, the journey to Bradford was well worth it for that away win.
Sadly, the away win on Saturday came at a price, Joe Tomlinson picked up a groin injury in the warmup and will miss a few weeks of action. Brandon Cooper picked up a knee injury during the first half and it was confirmed by Ben Garner he will be out for the foreseeable future. Harry McKirdy picked up his tenth yellow card of the season and will miss Tuesday game and Saturday’s game at home to Oldham Athletic.
Predicted line up
4-3-3
Wollacott, Hunt, Baudry, O’Brien, Iandolo, Reed, East, Aguiar, Mitchell-Lawson, Williams, Davison
Exeter City are eighth in the league two standings and are just one place and one point behind Swindon Town in the league standings. Exeter City have fifty-four points from thirty-two games. Swindon Town have fifty-five points from thirty-four games. It is getting tight for the race for a top three position in League Two. From Sutton United in third place to Swindon Town in seventh there is just two points separating five teams.
Exeter City run of form in the last six games in the league has been excellent, four wins, one draw and one defeat. Exeter City started February with excellent form with four wins in a row. That started with the reverse fixture at the County Ground where Matt Taylor side turned the game around with two goals in four second half minutes from Jevani Brown and Timothee Dieng.
Following the brilliant turnaround at the County Ground, Exeter City won the next three games against Leyton Orient and Bradford City. Both 1-0 wins and a 4-3 home win over Harrogate Town. But in the last two games Exeter City have only picked up one point. A draw away at Bristol Rovers was followed up on Friday night with a 2-1 away defeat at Mansfield Town.
By Scot Munroe