MATCH PREVIEW: Mansfield Town vs Swindon

Swindon Town take on their second play-off team of the week as they visit the One Call Stadium to play Mansfield Town. Total Sport’s Joe Acklam previews the League Two clash.

Luke Jephcott’s stoppage time penalty rebound got Swindon a well deserved point at the University of Bradford Stadium on Tuesday to take them to three games undefeated.

The second half performance in Yorkshire was very well received by Town fans, but Scott Lindsey is not concerned with any outside perceptions of his team.

He said: “I don’t really know and I don’t really care if I am honest with you about what people think of us.

“We only care about what we think of us,  and I think we are a good side and probably better than even we realise, I think the boys need to take real confidence from going to Bradford and playing the way we played.

“Certainly in the second half we need to take a lot of confidence from that, we have a young side and they need to believe in themselves because we are starting to really roll forwards now.

“I think we are constantly banging that drum, when we have discussions with them and when we show them their clips, when we speak to them individually or as a group I think we are always saying that we need to have confidence.

“Normally after a meeting going into a game it is a really positive message from me to expect them to go and win the game, there is not one game that we will set up and go for a draw, we will try and win every game we play in.”

Despite the quick turnaround and long journeys that Swindon have had to do this week, Lindsey expects that the work they have done will make sure they are fresh for Saturday.

He said: “The lads got back probably as early as five o’clock Wednesday morning by the time they actually got into their beds.

“So yesterday was a full recovery day for them and today we had a real light training session with little pieces of coaching and what we expect.

“The boys will be fully refreshed and ready to go come Saturday at three o’clock.

“I think the changes we made worked, it gave Ronan Darcy a little bit of a rest, [Luke] Jephcott needed a rest, and Mathieu Baudry needed a rest, but felt ill on the day anyway.

“It allowed players to come in and I thought the two young boys at the back were excellent for us, so I have decisions to make now.”

Were the game to go to form then it would be an away win as Mansfield have failed to win either of their last two, and although they won the last time these two met, they previously had not beaten Swindon since 2006.

Going all the way through the annals of history then Swindon once again come out on top, winning 23 of the 49 encounters, losing 11 and 15 finishing level.