Swindon V Notts County - Mad Dod

A draw is no good to either team in this one - and a win still might be enough, but where there's a will ...

Martin 'Mad Dog' Allen brings the Magpies to the County Ground following his first win win (against Tranmere) since switching from League Two relegation strugglers Barnet. The first two games were defeats as County concluded a run of nine straight loses.

Swindon have now only won one in twenty games themselves and so confidence should be low in both camps, but - love him or hate him - Allen has man management skills that might just see County to safety.

Midfielder Ricky Ravenhill - who only recently returned from a two-match ban - was sent off again during the victory over Tranmere in midweek and has now been hit with a four-game suspension which will rule him out for the rest of the campaign. Alan Judge – who has just returned from a broken foot – could take Ravenhill’s place in tomorrow’s game. Defender Krystian Pearce is also expected to be included in the squad after recovering from a head injury he suffered last month.

Allen has also shown he is not taking any, er, messing about from anyone in County’s bid for survival and has terminated the contract of former Wolves winger Lewis Gobern. The County manager spoke to the local press and explained:

"I've spoken with Lewis Gobern and agreed to terminate his contract with immediate effect. I haven't yet met him or seen him as he hasn't had to come in to training. So I wish him the best of luck." Says it all really!

Swindon chief Paul Hart recently had a similar experience with Leeds loanee Mike Grella who was dispatched back to Yorkshire after throwing his toys out of the pram. At times like this everyone needs to pull in the same direction and put the team ahead of themselves. I've no doubt that the attitudes of Messers Grella and Gobern will have been noted by others in the game.

Allen has made 34 year old striker Lee Hughes (ten goals this term) his skipper and Hughes lines up alongside Craig Westcarr who is the club’s leading scorer with twelve.

Let’s not make any bones about it – it’s now going to be very tough for Swindon to stay in this division.

They have the players to get the four wins they will definitely need, but some of the football they played last weekend smacked of desperation. Too many long balls forward to Calvin Andrew from a side that can be quite dangerous when they keep the ball on the ground.

It's going to be a day for cool heads and in Paul Hart and Allen you have tow experienced men who will earn their corn if they can keep their players from panicking.

And all eyes (from everyone connected with both clubs) will be on the Dagenham v Plymouth game today. A win for Daggers would see them pull four points clear of the relegation zone and so I suspect that both Swindon and County would like to see Plymouth win. It'll leave Swindon bottom, but keeps seven teams in the mix.

I'm predicting a County win ... in the hope that I'm wrong as usual!

N.B. I last saw Martin Allen at an Oxford game earlier in the season when he was doing some radio work. We had a chat at half time and he mentioned that he'd been shooting at a Sporting Chance charity event organised by Joey Barton the day before. Now, if you're going to hand anyone in football a loaded shotgun, I ask you, would it be Joey Barton and Martin Allen?