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Swindon Town

Johnstone’s Paint Trophy – area semi-final

Tuesday 10th December 2013

The County Ground, County Road, Swindon, SN1 2ED

Kick Off: 7.45pm

Referee: Stephen Martin (Staffordshire)

Weather forecast: Cloudy, 7 °c

Tickets:

Adult - £15

Concession (60 and over, 16-18 year old, Students with a valid NUS Card, Disabled) - £10

Kids (15 and under) - £5

How we got here:

Stevenage reached this area semi-final after a couple of hard fought victories against in-form opposition. First up was MK Dons at home in Round 2 where goals from Francois Zoko and Filipe Morais (pen) saw Boro come-from-behind to claim a morale-boosting win. League leaders Leyton Orient were the visitors in the area quarter-final but goals from Zoko and Morais (pen) again, plus a header from Lucas Akins, saw Boro claim a great 3-2 victory.

Swindon, meanwhile, have progressed after a couple of 2-1 home wins over lower league opposition. Jack Barthram and Nick Ajose scored in the second round win over Plymouth with Ajose grabbing a late double in the quarter-final as the Robins recovered from 1-0 down against Wycombe to snatch victory.

Last time we met:

Massimo Luongo gave Swindon their first league win of the season with the only goal of the game when the two teams last met back in August. The midfielder, one of four Tottenham loanees on Swindon's books, scored in the first half with a 20-yard shot past goalkeeper Steve Arnold. Arnold has earlier made a spectacular save to deny Andy Williams. After a nervy first-half, Boro improved after the break but Greg Tansley blazed over and Dani Lopez missed an easy header from four yards out.

Boro: Arnold, Wedgbury, Ashton, Charles, Hills, Morais (Shroot), Heslop (Dunne), Tansey, Freeman, Burrow (Lopez), Tounkara

Subs not used: Hartley, B.Smith, J.Smith, Haber

Team news:

Stevenage are likely to name a similar side to that which beat Stourbridge 4-0 on Saturday. Dean Parrett could come into the team after his early introduction as sub in that game with Bruno Andrade and Sam Wedgbury also vying for starting places after coming on in the second half. Darius Charles remains out.

Swindon could make a couple of changes to their team with the likes of Ryan Mason back from injury recently, but are not expected to make wholesale alterations. Defender Nathan Byrne serves the final match of a two match suspension whilst Tijane Reis, Alex Smith and Troy Archibald-Henville are all out with long term injuries.

Betting:

Boro are 4/1to win on Tuesday night with betting partner Sky Bet. Three of the four JPT games the two sides have been involved in this season have finished 2-1 and you can get odds on 7/1 for a similar Swindon win or 12/1 on a Stevenage victory by the same scoreline.

For the more adventurous, the odds of Stevenage repeating their 3-2 win from the previous round are a massive 250/1!

These are just some of the 42 bets currently on offer for this game for fans to wager on. through any of the attached Sky BetSign up with links to earn yourself a free £5 bet each week and help the club earn some extra revenue!

The Swindon Town Scout Report

Recent form:

Since seeing off Wycombe 2-1 in the previous round of this competition Swindon have hit a run of mixed form, winning two of their five games and suffering the indignity of an FA Cup thrashing, having lost 4-0 at non-league Macclesfield Town in the first round. Wins have come at Colchester (2-1) and at home to Carlisle (3-1), they picked up a point with a goalless draw at Crawley and lost 3-1 to Leyton Orient at the County Ground.

Whilst the FA Cup defeat would have hurt it did allow the Robins the luxury of a rare weekend off this Saturday, something which may come into play should the game be forced into extra time on Tuesday night.

If Boro can take a lead into half time then that'll bode well as Swindon have won none of the seven games where they've gone into the break behind. They've also won just one of three where it's been level after 45 minutes. However once ahead Town rarely look back, winning eight and drawing one of the nine games this season where they've been ahead at half time.

Key Man:

Nicky Ajose has struck 8 times so far this season for Swindon since joining on a six month loan deal at the end of August from Peterborough. The 22-year old, who first struck to prominence during a loan spell at Bury from Manchester United in 2010/11 has since struggled to hit the same heights although has enjoyed temporary spells at Scunthorpe, Chesterfield, Crawley and again at Bury last season.

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