Swindon Town

AFTER making the jump from non-league football to League 1, James Brophy admits that he is relishing the prospect of facing Wigan Athletic on Saturday – a side that were in the top flight of English football as recently as 2013.

This time last year, the defender was plying his trade part-time with Edgware Town in the ninth tier of the English league pyramid while working in the offices of British Airways and recalls what he may have been doing in late October of 2014.

“Probably preparing the Christmas do in our office,” he smiled. “This time of year it was quite quiet (in the offices) but it’s a whole world apart from where I am now.

“Wigan were in the Premier League only a few seasons ago so for me to go from non-league to a Premier League stadium is nice and I’m really looking forward to it.”

Following last weekend’s comeback to earn a point against Coventry City at SN1, Brophy reflected on the 2-2 draw before declaring that Town could get a positive result against the Latics this Saturday if they adopted the same approach as last week.

“I thought we dominated the game (against Coventry),” he said. “I thought we got back to the way we were playing at the start of the season where we kept the ball, pressed high and created a lot more. I thought our passing football was a lot better. They respected the way we played and tried to play the same way.

“Wigan are a good team. They’ve got players that have played in higher leagues but we’ll go there with the same approach we had against Coventry: play our football, try to dominate the game, pass the football and create opportunities. If we had the same mentality as we had against Coventry we’ll get a good result.”