After Tuesday night’s frustrating 2-1 home defeat to Oxford United, The Reds host 13th placed Gillingham at The County Ground.
It was a night to forget for John Sheridan’s side against the arch-rivals as the Town were not able to replicate their heroics at The Kassam Stadium at the end of November.
However, the team will have to move on from that result and prepare themselves to face The Gills who will be travelling to Wiltshire to face The Reds for the first time since February 2017.
The reverse fixture between the two sides at The Priestfield Stadium concluded with this weekend’s visitors coming out on top courtesy of goals from Vadaine Oliver and Trae Coyle in the 17th and 80th minute respectively.
It was an extremely bitter pill for The Reds to swallow who could not break down The Gills defence despite having 19 shots over the course of the match.
This weekend’s contest will be the 100th meeting between the two sides who have a very even record against each other in their games dating back as far as December 1920.
The Town narrowly lead Gillingham with 36 wins compares to The Gills’ 33 victories and there have also been 30 draws between the two sides.
Unfortunately for The Reds, this is a fixture which has not been kind to them over the last few seasons with Swindon only beating The Gills once in their last ten matches between this season and the 2011/12 campaign.
The Opposition:
Steve Evans’ side are in an extremely comfortable 13th position in League One and have established themselves as a side who are tough to beat.
Before Fleetwood Town’s victory against The Blues on Tuesday night, Gillingham had amassed an impressive run of results, drawing 1-1 with Portsmouth at Fratton Park, as well as impressively beating MK Dons and Ipswich Town 3-2 and 3-1 respectively.
An easy match against Gillingham is a very rare occurrence as they are a strong, organised side who are also very good at keeping a lead, as Swindon found out in December.
Ones to watch:
They also have quality attackers who know exactly where the net is in striker Vadaine Oliver and winger Jordan Graham who have scored a combined seventeen goals this season.
They also both top the assist charts for the Kent side, with Oliver recording five assists and Graham registering four of his own.
A fast and strong start will be essential to picking up a result against The Gills and John Sheridan’s side will have to be at their very best.
How to watch:
The match will be available to love dtream on iFollow STFC for a fee of £10 to those who do not have a Season Ticket.