Swindon will be looking for their first home win of 2019 as Forest Green visit the County Ground this weekend.
After a defeat to Crawley last week at SN1, Richie Wellens’ men are hoping to return to winning ways against Rovers and improve their home form which has seen them pick up a point so far this year.
Last weekend’s defeat to Crawley had been preceded by a positive run of two wins and a draw against Macclesfield and Tranmere away from home, split by a dramatic draw against Lincoln at the CG.
The Oppo
Rovers’ form heading into Saturday’s fixture is good – they’ve only lost once in two months (10 games). That loss came at home against Bury but since they’ve had wins-to-nothing against Grimsby and Stevenage as well as a draw against high-flyers Mansfield.
The Nailsworth side’s top scorer is Christian Doidge despite him spending most of the season so far on-loan at Bolton – his goal tally stands at seven after three goals in his last three, including a brace against Grimsby.
Head-to-head
01 Dec 2007 Swindon Town v Forest Green Rovers W 3-2 FA Cup
22 Sep 2017 Forest Green Rovers v Swindon Town W 0-2 League Two
05 Dec 2017 Swindon Town v Forest Green Rovers L 0-1 Football League Trophy
13 Jan 2018 Swindon Town v Forest Green Rovers W 1-0 League Two
14 Aug 2018 Swindon Town v Forest Green Rovers L 0-1 League Cup
25 Aug 2018 Forest Green Rovers v Swindon Town D 1-1 League Two
The Gaffer
Mark Cooper is a familiar face to Town fans – appointed in 2013, he led the club to 8th in League One in his first season in charge. The following season was a memorable one – a thrilling semi-final against Sheffield United (that 5-5, at the County Ground) set up a chance for promotion at Wembley. It was not to be as the Robins were denied on the day by Preston North End.
Since his stint at Swindon he has been in charge of Notts County – he was set a points target which he met, but decided to leave to become manager of the Green.
After moving back to the West Country, this time to Nailsworth, Cooper guided Forest Green to promotion from the National League spending the best part of 20 years in the top tier of non-league football. He and the Green defeated Tranmere Rovers at Wembley, and made Nailsworth the smallest town to host a Football League club.
After keeping them up last season, Cooper now has his side well and truly knocking on the door of League One.
