Alan Connell has close ties to both Town and Northampton and has plenty of fond memories of games between the two sides.
The former striker had spells with both clubs and, ahead of tonight’s game, reflected on his time with the Reds and his first two goals for the club.
“It is all fond memories and I loved my time at Swindon,” he told swindontownfc.co.uk.
“My time at Swindon came to a premature end, I didn’t want to leave but I loved it and we had a lot of success that season with winning the league, having a good FA Cup run and we got to the JPT Final at Wembley.
“I played a lot of games that season and finished as top goalscorer so I’ve got nothing but fond memories to look back on – I loved it at Swindon.
“It is always nice to score important goals. It is great to score the fifth in a 5-0 win but to score important goals, which I seemed to score a lot of for Swindon, they mean that bit more.
“I remember the Rotherham United game in September. I was a sub that day, we were struggling at the start of that season and we had only won one of our first five games and we were near the bottom of the league which obviously wasn’t expected with the type of players and the management team we had.
“Rotherham were top of the league, we were 2-1 down and I scored from a corner literally a few seconds after coming on with a header.
“And then about ten minutes later I remember Matt Ritchie swinging a great cross in and again it was another header that flew into the corner.
“It was live on Sky and that day was relief really because they were my first two goals for the club, but it was also a big win after we had been put under a lot of pressure.
“I had been brought in from Grimsby Town and there was pressure on myself personally, so to deliver in a big game against a top team on Sky was something I look back on even now and I’ve still got it on my Sky Planner, so I still have a little look at that every now and again which is nice.”
Connell also shared his memories of THAT 2-1 win against Northampton Town in December 2011, which is more famous for the celebrations at the end of the game that involved Paolo Di Canio running onto the pitch.
“They are special moments that I always tried to take in and those are the sort of days that you wish you could live over and over again,” he added.
“It was New Year’s Eve, we were 1-0 down and I scored a goal which I was pleased with where I slotted it into the corner in front of the travelling fans.
“We had Oliver Risser sent-off so we were down to ten men and I dropped to midfield, which I had very rarely done in my career.
“Northampton had a one-on-one in the third minute of injury time but we were straight up the other end, Alan McCormack goes on a mazy run, he played a one-two with Raffaele De Vita and it was a great finish.
“Those are the moments you live for.”
READ MORE FROM ALAN CONNELL ON THAT GAME AGAINST NORTHAMPTON TOWN IN TONIGHT’S EDITION OF R&W, WHICH IS ON SALE NOW FROM THE CLUB SHOP.
