Swindon Town v Tranmere Rovers - Verbal Abuse

Tranmere visit the County Ground tomorrow on the back of three straight home defeats and so may well welcome the chance to get away from the mounting pressure at Prenton Park as they slip towards to relegation spots.

Strikers Enoch Showunmi and Ian Thomas-Moore – son of Rotherham chief Ronnie Moore – head the club’s goalscoring charts with five each and Thomas-Moore – who missed the midweek Johnstone's Paint Trophy defeat to Huddersfield with a calf injury - may be back in contention.

Tranmere boss Les Parry will also have Joss Labadie available now that the midfielder has completed a three-match suspension for his red card in the 1-0 win at Notts County.

Swindon are missing their tenacious midfield Jonathan Douglas who starts his own three match ban following a sending off in the FA Cup replay loss at home to little Crawley.

The Robins are only two points ahead of their guests in the League One table and only four points from the drop zone. Then again, if you’re a ‘glass half full’ person, Swindon are also only six points from the play-off spots and Danny Wilson will be hoping that some good results during the Christmas period will see them go into 2011 eyeing promotion.

I was at the County Ground for the last league game against Wednesday and the players were all speaking very positively about their chances, although some of the fans that day aimed a lot of abuse at Vincent Pericard. The fella hadn’t played well, but I did wonder whether it was going to help his already fragile confidence and therefore, the team they claim to 'support'.

Charlie Austin scored another in that game and paid credit to Pericard afterwards. Austin has now scored 14 times this season and pointed out that Pericard was working hard for the team even if he wasn’t scoring and that he, for one, appreciated his teammate’s efforts.

I remember a couple of seasons ago when Billy Paynter came in for some grief from a section of the fans while Simon Cox was scoring for fun and I was surprised then that they couldn’t see Paynter’s contribution.

Last season Paynter scored a hat full alongside Charlie Austin, became a fans’ favourite, but then left for Leeds United on a ‘free’ in the summer. I’m not saying that the abuse he received had any bearing on his decision to leave, but it can’t have helped.

I hope that the Swindon faithful get behind Pericard tomorrow. If they do, it will not only give him a boost, but his teammates as well.