Swindon Town expert provides lowdown on Chesterfield's opening day opponents

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Chesterfield kick-off their return to League Two with a home game against Swindon Town on Friday night.

We spoke to journalist Joe Acklam, of the Swindon Advertiser, to get the lowdown on the Robins...

What have results and performances been like in pre-season?

Pre-season has been pretty solid for Swindon given that there have been some difficult circumstances for new boss Mark Kennedy. Town dealt with their local non-league neighbours pretty comfortably in the warm-ups and ended up closing with a good win against Wycombe Wanderers. There was one slightly troubling display in defeat at Eastleigh, but every Swindon team seems incapable of winning at the Silverlake Stadium. It has been exciting to see the new, more aggressive style be implemented but there has been a consistent theme of lacking a bit of finesse in the final third.

Swindon Town's County Ground.Swindon Town's County Ground.
Swindon Town's County Ground.

What's your verdict on the summer recruitment?

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I have been a fan of the recruitment as after years of taking the Football Manager approach of signing exclusively talented youngsters, Swindon have eaten a few vegetables. The average height of the team has probably doubled and the total appearances will be up ten-fold. Will Wright and Rosaire Longelo have been especially strong in pre-season, but all of the senior arrivals have been positive. There is still plenty more depth required and possibly another starting quality midfielder, but in step one of this Kennedy era, it has been a reasonable start.

How would you describe the style of play under Mark Kennedy so far?

The style of play has been a change as ‘Mixer Mark’ and his ‘Mountain Men’ have become a lot more direct than had previously been the case. This is far from a kick and rush team but they are happy to go long when necessary, but have looked quite good playing from the back when they have got the chance. Defensively they have looked to be far more solid and there has been constant talk of being the ‘hardest-working team in the league.’ Swindon will look to press high and disrupt but also proved against Wycombe that they can fall back and frustrate.

What are the expectations for Swindon this season?

The expectations are not high, I think we will be looking to be in mid-table and then hope to be the lucky ones who can catch fire, although I don't see that as overly likely. Mission one will be to avoid going beyond last season's lowest-ever finish and then see what happens. I would expect Swindon to finish in the lower mid-table area of the table.

What about things off the field?

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Off the field, it has been a turbulent year at Swindon. Fan unrest grew loud at the end of last season and led to the supporters' trust writing an open letter saying that they had lost faith in the ownership. Since that point, there has been an effort from the club to change and look to interact a bit more, bringing in a supporter liaison officer amongst other things but it is still very early days for winning back any trust.

What's your predicted line-up for Friday? Any injury news?

The main injury news is that Ryan Delaney will not be fit in time to feature after signing from Newport County, meaning former Chesterfield man Miguel Freckleton will doubtless start. They will be a 3-5-2 and probably look like this: Bycroft; Wright, Hall, Freckleton; Sobowale, Clarke, Cotteril, Ofoborh, Longelo; Glatzel, Smith.

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