Swindon Town

MARK Cooper believes that Burton Albion will be a difficult side to break down when they visit the County Ground tomorrow afternoon.

After a display last weekend that saw the Town concede four goals at Oakwell, the manager also stressed the need to have a back-up plan when things aren’t going Swindon’s way.

“They’re riding that momentum of promotion,” he said. “They’re a very functional, methodical team, they’ve got a lot of organisation in their group and you can see, the way that they play, that they’re well drilled. They don’t give a lot away and it’s going to be a really tough nut to crack. I would suggest that they’ll come and make it difficult for us and we’ll have to be really bright to break them down.”

He continued: “It’s important we have something to fall back on and it’s important when you don’t play well and when you’re not as fluent as you can be, you have a framework to fall back on. If the least thing is hard work and desire to keep the ball out of the back of the net then so be it: that gives you a chance to maybe win the game 1-0. Last Saturday we didn’t take responsibility and we didn’t have that willingness to put our necks on the line.”

The manager then asserted the importance of working towards a settled squad in the wake of a busy summer transfer window and revealed that Jermaine Hylton will be the only member of his squad unavailable for selection on Saturday.

“The only person not available now is Jermaine Hylton,” he said. “It’s important now that we’ve got a squad, we have to get everybody settled down. It’s important we concentrate on that and work with a settled system with a ‘Plan B’ in the back of our minds. It’s important that we put the hours in on the training ground to get a settled team that know what we’re doing.”

Finally, Cooper explained the thinking behind Josh Cooke’s recall from his loan at Cheltenham Town earlier this week. “Josh will need to go out again,” he said. “It’s important wherever he goes he gets more game time because we’ve got an abundance of forwards.”