I haven’t been this excited for a football match in a long long time and it’s safe to say that that’s the case with most Bantams this weekend if the various comments regarding this match on social media are anything to go by. Valley Parade has the feel good vibe going on right now as both players and fans are looking forward to our final six games of the season and another potential promotion push.
We’re flying at the moment. Winning our last three matches 1-0 against Millwall, Crewe and then Scunthorpe we’ve taken 20 points from a possible maximum of 30 on offer and are one of League One’s form sides. Form during the end of the season is crucial as with other teams around us crumbling late on this term we have sprung a rich vein of form just at the right moment.
With no new injury concerns Parkinson has a near full strength squad to choose from but expect the gaffer to stick to the same starting line-up as was at Valley Parade last weekend. Despite Rory McArdle returning to full fitness, Nathan Clarke and Reece Burke are looking likely to start once again as the pairing have looked mightily impressive of late with three clean sheets in a row. Defensively, the Bantams have now only conceded twice in their last seven matches, quite the impressive stat.
Swindon are best described using the ‘yo-yo’ team tag this season. With every up there has been a down and with each winning run there has been a barren streak without a win. The Robins form over the last ten matches perfectly highlights this trend. In their last ten in League One Swindon have won on four occasions, drawn three times and lost three times. Pretty normal at first glance but in fact Swindon are now six matches without a win in the league and in those six have suffered heavy losses against Wigan losing 4-1 and against Scunthorpe who hammered them 6-0 at Glanford Park recently. Even worse is the fact that the Wiltshire based side only embarked on their most recent non-winning streak after handing manager Luke Williams a new five-year contract a few weeks back, hopefully not a sign to come for the Robins fans.
In what can only be fantastically described with the statement ‘no laughing matter’ Swindon have this week suspended three of their first team players due to reports and allegations that the trio inhaled nitrous oxide on a live social media video on Wednesday. Drissa Traore, Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill and Jeremy Balmy will therefore play no part in Saturday’s match at Valley Parade in a move that has weakened Swindon’s squad substantially.
Swindon do boast League One’s top goalscorer so far this season however in Nicky Ajose. The English forward of Nigerian decent, formerly of L**** and Peterborough among other sides, has bagged himself 23 goals in all competitions and is odds on favourite to be the league’s top scorer come the end of the season. The Robins in fact possess a lethal strike force at this level as with the fast and agile Nicky Ajose comes the powerful and pacey Jonathan Obika who himself has 11 goals this term for the Wiltshire side including one against us back in August.
Swindon are responsible too for our biggest loss this season in regards to losing margins in the league as they beat us 4-1 on the opening day of the season at the County Ground despite Josh Morris giving us an early lead. Nathan Byrne, now of Wolves, scored a 16 minute hat-trick with Obika scoring late on to inflict our worse defeat this season. However that match feels a lifetime away considering both our recent form and our tight defence of late. Interestingly that day in Swindon we conceded 10.5% of all our goals we have let in this season in League One.
Another tough match in the league then but one we should be winning. Swindon in essence are playing for very little as they sit too far adrift of the play-off picture to challenge whilst relegation looks unlikely barring an absolute disaster. Considering both ours and Swindon’s recent form and the fact that we’re playing at Valley Parade on Saturday afternoon, we should be accepting nothing less than a win to continue our recent fantastic form in League One.