Town will be looking to bounce back from their defeat to AFC Wimbledon last weekend as they host Barrow this afternoon.
Barrow has had an unbelievable start to league action with 17 games out of their opening 20 unbeaten which keeps them only a goal difference away from the automatic positions.
More recently their form has been just as good with five wins in their last five games, making them the most in-form team in the league at the moment.
Barrow currently sits third in the League Two table, with Swindon having a recent record of stopping winning streaks against Mansfield Town and Accrington Stanley, they will be looking to replicate something similar here to push themselves back towards the playoffs this afternoon.
Lowdown on the visitors
Founded on July 16th, 1901, the Club began playing competitive football in the Lancashire League at its first home ground 'The Strawberry'.
A further move to Little Park in March 1905 saw the Club enjoy their first success, winning promotion to Division One of the Lancashire Combination in 1908.
The following year saw the Club move to its current home, Holker Street.
When the League was reorganised in 1958, the Club found itself placed in Division Four.
In January 1959, Barrow played Wolverhampton Wanderers in an FA Cup Third Round tie. On a frozen pitch, a crowd of 16,340 saw the team put up a 4-2 win against Wolves.
At the end of the 1971/72 season, the club finished third bottom of Division Four and was required to make its eleventh re-election application. Eventually, after 51 years, the Club lost its much-prized Football League status.
In May 1990, the Club captured the FA Trophy with a 3-0 win over Leek Town at Wembley thanks to two goals from Kenny Gordon and one from Club appearance and goal-scoring record holder Colin Cowperthwaite.
The Club joined the Conference North when it was formed in 2004-05 but apart from two FA Cup first-round appearances against Bristol Rovers and AFC Bournemouth, there was no tangible success.
At the end of the 2007/08 season, the Club won its way back to the top flight of non-league football, then known as Blue Square Premier, after an absence of ten years by defeating Stalybridge Celtic 1-0 in the Play-Off Final at Burton Albion.
Sadly the 2012/13 season saw the team struggle and it was eventually relegated after its longest spell at the top of the non-league game since losing its Football League place in 1972.
The summer of 2014 saw significant change at the Club, with the members voting in favour of a takeover by Barrow-born businessman Paul Casson who is based in the United States where he has several successful business enterprises.
Mr Casson made resources available for team building and in April 2015 Barrow clinched the Vanarama Conference North title on the final day of the season with a 3-2 win at Lowestoft Town.
The foundations for the future were laid and the team went back full-time for the return to the top flight of non-league football the following season.
2019/20 saw a continuing improvement of matters on the field. After a poor start to the season, the team climbed to the top of the National League table following a 3-0 win at Notts County in November 2019 and remained there until the season was suspended in March 2020.
The team was declared National League champions on a points-per-game basis on 17th June 2020 and, after just over 48 years, finally returned to the Football League.
They now sit third in League 2 and look to build their way up the English footballing pyramid.
Head-to-head
1968/69: Swindon Town 2-0 Barrow
2021/22: Barrow 2-0 Swindon Town
2021/22: Swindon Town 2-1 Barrow
2022/23: Barrow 0-1 Swindon Town
2022/23: Swindon Town 0-0 Barrow
Manager: Peter Wild
Pete Wild has been involved with football coaching since his teenage years when he turned his hand to that alongside playing for a local amateur side. Although he never played the game professionally, Wild’s talent for coaching was recognised by hometown club Oldham Athletic and he began working in The Latics’ Academy.
After a decade plying his trade at Boundary Park, Oldham turned to Wild as Caretaker Manager in December 2018 following the departure of Frankie Bunn and he went on to win his first two games in charge.
Wild stepped aside upon the appointment of Paul Scholes but was handed the reins temporarily once more when the Manchester United legend’s tenure ended in March 2019. After a couple of months in the top job at Boundary Park, Wild left the club and re-emerged as the new man in charge at FC Halifax Town in July 2019.
Since then, he has gone about enhancing his reputation as one of the brightest up-and-coming coaches in the game and become a real favourite with Town supporters. Wild took charge of just under 150 games during his three seasons at The Shay, boasting a win percentage of almost 50% which helped Halifax finish fourth in the National League and qualify for the play-offs in 2021/22.
One to Watch: Niall Canavan
Experienced centre-back Niall Canavan joined The Bluebirds on the final day of the January 2022 transfer window for an undisclosed fee from Bradford City. The highly-rated defender had been a regular in The Bantams' starting eleven and skippered the side during the first half of the campaign, but Barrow was able to agree a fee to bring him to Cumbria.
The Leeds-born campaign was part of City’s Academy as a youngster before establishing himself at Scunthorpe United where he signed professional terms in 20009 and went on to play almost 200 senior games. In 2016 a successful loan with Rochdale was turned permanent and he spent two seasons at Spotland before earning a move to Plymouth Argyle where he was a key factor in their promotion from League Two in 2019/20.
He made just short of 100 appearances for The Pilgrims before he returned north to rejoin Bradford in January 2021, before eventually making his move to Barrow where he has been key to the squad being captain and leading by example in the backline.
