Team News:
Jamie Stephens (hamstring), Harry Taylor (metatarsal), Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro (knee) are all sidelined.
Curtis Weston is back out running on the grass as he nears a return following a knee injury.
Elliott Johnson (knee) and Dave Tarpey (knee) are both out with long-term injuries.
Last Time We Met:
This is the second meeting between the two sides this season, the previous fixture ended 4-1 to the Bees in Wiltshire. Shaq Coulthirst stole the show with a superb hat-trick around a Jamal Campbell-Ryce spot kick.
Luke Norris scored a consolation for the Robins in a match where both sides were reduced to 10 men, Donal McDermott was sent off early into the second half for a late tackle on David Tutonda meanwhile Andre Blackman saw red for an off the ball incident.
Manager:
David Flitcroft began his footballing days with Preston North End. After four years at Deepdale and a brief loan spell at Lincoln City, the midfielder moved to Chester City where he amassed more than 200 first-team appearances.
In 1999 he moved to Rochdale, helping the Dale to the Division Three play-offs in 2002 before his four-year stay at Spotland came to end – joining Macclesfield Town for six months. He later moved back to Lancashire, signing for Bury where he made a century of appearances as a stalwart in the middle of the park. Overall in the Football League he made over 500 appearances for Preston, Chester, Rochdale, Macclesfield and Bury.
Midway through the 2006/07 season, Flitcroft teamed up with Keith Hill at Rochdale – becoming Hill’s assistant.
The management duo were highly regarded during their time at Spotland, after guiding the Dale out of League Two via the play-offs and then to their highest ever position in forty years – ninth in League One, at the end of the 2009/10 campaign.
His first managerial appointment at Barnsley followed a brief spell as caretaker manager and prior to that he was assistant manager to Keith Hill at Oakwell from June 2011. After taking charge, Flitcroft went onto secure the club’s Championship status.
He later joined Bury in the 2013/14 season and guided the Club to a 12th place finish in Sky Bet League Two.
In the 2014/15 season Bury acheived promotion to League One, completing the season in 3rd place.
Flitcroft was appointed as manager of Swindon Town on the 5th June 2017.
Dangerman:
Crystal Palace loanee Keshi Anderson began his senior career with Barton Rovers, scoring 32 goals in 53 games in all competitions. He earned a trial with Brentford against Palace and scored a hat trick in 6 minutes. Palace signed him in February 2015. Swindon his is fourth club he has spent time on loan at, also representing Doncaster, Bolton and Northampton.
So far this season, Anderson has bagged 4 goals and 6 assists in 21 games for the Robins.
Connections:
Bees midfielder Curtis Weston made 29 appearances for Swindon in the 2006/07 season. His only goal for the side came against local rivals Bristol Rovers in a 2-1 victory. At the end of the season, Curtis was sold to Leeds United.
Jamie Stephens was part of the Swindon Town academy for three years before earning a move to Liverpool in 2010.
Last Time Out:
Swindon were victorious over Notts County with a 1-0 win on Saturday. Luke Norris struck early in the second half with his eleventh goal of the season to give David Flitcroft’s side the perfect response to a Boxing Day hammering by Luton Town.
Ticket info:
Supporters can find out more about tickets details here.
Keep up with the game:
Full match commentary from every game is available on iFollow. If you are based outside of the UK & Ireland, you can watch the game live on iFollow.
You can also get live match updates on Twitter throughout the afternoon. We are also on Facebook and will go behind the scenes on our Instagram.
