Swindon Town 1 Hartlepool United 1 - Struggle

I've never been a ticket buying fan of any of the teams I cover on a regular basis, but I want each of them to do as well as possible because frankly I want to write fun and uplifting pieces for the papers - I hate the negative stuff.

My clipping from this morning's paper

Unfortunately it's impossible to put a positive spin on Swindon's current predicament. It looks very much as if they will be heading for League Two in May.
Poor Phil Smith - a decent man - was at fault for the Hartlepool opener (after 37 minutes and so there was still plenty of time to rescue the situation and get the win) on Saturday and to his credit he 'fronted up' after the game, although he looked as crestfallen as I have ever seen him.
But his boss, Paul Hart, was spot on when he said: "He obviously didn't mean to do it and the man who hasn't made a mistake hasn't been born."
And anyone getting on Smith's back is missing the point - the season started last August and the responsibility for the situation needs sharing about amongst the other players, the manager(s), coaches, and finally the directors who let two strikers leave the club for peanuts, or in Billy Paynter's case, nothing.
Swindon have suffered a dire run of 18 games without a win and I'm afraid that, even if they did string a few wins together, it could be too little, too late.
Earlier this season, I had a dig at Bristol Rovers fans for jeering their own team at half time. On Saturday Swindon's fans were at it. Surely their priority is to help the team get them out of the mess they're in not to compound the misery of the players. Swindon's players worked hard on Saturday and deserved better support.
There are now seven teams in relegation trouble in my opinion. From the bottom of the table; Plymouth, Swindon, Bristol Rovers, Walsall, Dagenham, Notts County and Tranmere.
Plymouth are down, but fighting.
Swindon have played at least one game more than the other six and are five points adrift of the team above them.
Bristols Rovers have now won three games and drawn one of the five since Stuart Campbell took over. They have a tough run in, but look up for the scrap.
Walsall haven't given up hope yet either and Dean Smith has just been given the job on a permanent deal - so he must be doing something right.
Dagenham have only won one in five games, have lost the last two and so could very well get sucked into the bottom four spots.
Notts County have just ditched Paul Ince and that move might go one of two ways for the club. They've lost the last five games and so the rot may have already set in or, alternatively, Ince's replacement might lift the gloom around the club ...  but he'll need to be quick.
Tranmere seem to be struggling too, but to a lesser degree - they're not out of the mire though.
I'm afraid that none of this gives me any great hope for Swindon and their survival chances. In my opinion they are 'down', but then again this is written by someone who has made so many bad predictions this season - and hopes he's making just one more.