Swindon Town vs Colchester Utd: Five Things To Look Out For

Swindon Town will be hoping to end a two-game losing run in League One when they entertain Colchester United on Saturday.

Total Sport’s Sam Morshead looks ahead to the weekend’s game with suggestions for five things fans should keep an eye on at the County Ground…

Back balance

With Nathan Thompson set for another extended spell on the sidelines through injury, manager Mark Cooper has another defensive equation to solve ahead of the visit of Colchester.

The Swindon boss has been forced to use eight different line-ups across the back in Town’s 10 games to date this season, due to injuries, international commitments and loan requirements, and the Robins, perhaps as a result, have struggled for clean sheets with just one all season so far.

In fact, Colchester are one of only three teams to have conceded more goals in League One this term (16 at an average of two per game compared to Swindon’s 13), and if Town are to make a move towards the top of the table they’ll require the support of a consistent and miserly defensive unit.

Brad Barry is likely to start at right-back, where he’s shown enough to nonsense comparisons to Harry Agombar, and Jordan Turnbull seems set to continue on the left. While both players’ individual defensive qualities have been there for all to see so far this term, neither offer a major attacking threat – a key element in the brand of football Swindon have made their own in recent seasons.

Getting the balance right between rigidity and fluidity will be key for Cooper and his coaching staff.

Starving Marvin

Three years ago, Sordell commanded a £3million price tag when he moved from Watford to Bolton Wanderers and went on to be a part of the Team GB squad at the London Olympics of 2012. Tomorrow, he’ll line up for Colchester at the County Ground.

It’s been a remarkable downturn in fortunes for a one-time ‘golden boy’ of English football, whose struggled with form and an addiction to social media during his seven-year career.

Still only 24, however, time remains on the forward’s side as he looks to rebuild himself in the Football League and he ought to be a particularly potent weapon for the U’s in the third tier. Sordell netted his first Colchester goal in a 3-2 victory at Sheffield United earlier this month and Swindon will need to be on top of their game to negate his attacking talents.

Goals. Lots of them.

Between them, Town and Colchester’s last three games have yielded a massive 29 goals at a shade under five per match and, like Swindon, the U’s have managed just one solitary clean sheet all term.

No wonder, then, the bookies are banking on a goal-laden jamboree at the County Ground, with a best price of 3/4 available on both teams to score on Saturday. Swindon may not have netted at home in 204 minutes of football but this weekend gives them a prime opportunity to end that mini barren run.

House of cards

Referee Oliver Langford has a strange habit of dishing out red cards at the County Ground. In the seven matches he’s taken charge of in SN1, the whistleblower has dismissed four players – and that ratio seems to be completely out of character.

Langford has yet to reach for his back pocket in eight matches this season and only produced a red on four occasions in 33 matches during the 2014/15 campaign. Which makes us wonder – is he saving it all up for his annual trip to Wiltshire?

Thankfully for Swindon, the West Midlands official generally sends off visiting players, with three of those four reds handed to the away side at the County Ground down the years.

Tricky for Nicky

If Nicky Ajose was not held in such high regard following his previous loan spell at Swindon, the forward might be finding Saturdays a little more uncomfortable right now.

It was always going to be tough to ask the former Manchester United trainee to come straight out of Leeds’ youth set-up, where he had been left to rot for the best part of a year, and immediately fulfil the ‘saviour’ status which had been so unceremoniously heaped on him, but Ajose’s honeymoon period will soon be over.

The striker admitted after his goalscoring debut at Crewe that he’d had a “beast” and, since then, he’s not got any closer to being the Belle of the ball. Given his obvious talent – as Swindon fans witnessed first-hand two years ago – in time Ajose will certainly come good, but at present there still seem to be a few cobwebs to scrub away. How long supporters will allow him to complete his spring clean is up for debate.

This weekend’s clash with Colchester provides the perfect platform for Ajose to end the discussion altogether, seeing as he’s scored in two of his past three appearances against the U’s.