Form… 7th placed Swindon have been unbeaten throughout October and now look to take their impressive League Two form into November.

Town have won 3, drawn 2 and defeated once (at Macclesfield) in their previous 6 League games. Away from home, recent victories at Accrington and Plymouth have shown Swindon potentially do have what it takes  to improve form to mount a strong challenge for promotion.

Port Vale had been one of the division’s early pacesetters and not out of the top half all season, however, their recent form has seen a downturn with 2 defeats in 3 League Two matches. A heavy home 4-0 defeat to Morecambe was put right a week ago with a 3-0 win at Bristol Rovers, only for the Valiant’s to fall 2-1 at Oxford United last weekend. Port Vale have won 4, drawn 1 and lost 3 in their home games this season.

Swindon Team Speculation… With 4 successive clean sheets Paolo Di Canio is unlikely to want to alter his backline, but it is in attack where Town’s strike force has been lacking of late.

There have been no goals for a striker since Jervis and Montano scored at Accrington, so will Alan Connell be awarded his first start since Barnet at home over a month ago?

Port Vale Team Speculation… Port-Vale.co.uk reports

Vale boss Micky Adams is without five first team players ahead of Saturday’s visit of Swindon Town.

Striker Ben Williamson suffered a knee injury in Monday’s reserve defeat to Derby County, whilst long-term absentees Andrew Little (knee), Lewis Haldane (broken leg) and Ryan Burge (knee) all continue their rehabilitation.

Available players: Tomlinson (GK), Martin (GK); Yates, McCombe, Owen, Roe, McDonald, Chilvers, Kozluk; Taylor, Griffith, Loft, Roberts, Rigg, Morsy; Dodds, Richards, Pope.

Swindon-Town-FC.co.uk Head-to-Head… In the 71 Football League and Cup matches between the sides, Swindon have won 24 games, drawn 18 and defeated them on 29 occasions, scoring 89 and conceding 98. The sides have never met in the League Cup.

Our record at Vale Park is woeful with 5 wins, 10 draws and 20 defeats from the 35 matches, scoring 33 and conceding 68. Town had to wait 20 matches until October 1986 to register a second victory in the Potteries.

The sides have not met since the 2007/08 season when Swindon stormed to a 6-0 victory at the County Ground (Peacock, Easton, J Smith, Timlin, McNamee and Joyce).

Swindon haven’t won away at Vale Park in five games, since a 2-0 victory on 18th September 2001;  Danny Invincible and Matt Hewlett were the scorers that day.

What The Stats Say… Port Vale really do like to allow their opposition to get right at them at Vale Park.

They allow 66.7% of opposition shots to be on target, which is by far the highest percentage in the division.

Its not just the shots, as Vale have conceded the 2nd highest average corners per game, with their opponents given 7 chances per game to take advantage of the corner set piece.

These defensive weaknesses, coupled with the 20th ranked save rate of 62.5%, is the real reason why they’ve conceded heavily at home this campaign.

Looking at when Port Vale have conceded those 15 goals at home, the majority find their way into the net during the first half, and of those 9, 7 are conceded in the opening 30 minutes; so Swindon must seize the opportunity to penetrate a weak Vale defence as soon as possible.

Although, considering Town have failed to score in the opening 15 minutes and only twice from 7 away from home in the first 30, that might not happen…

Kickoff.co.uk Prediction… 

% Chance of Full Time Result: Swindon win: 32% | Port Vale win: 42% | Draw: 26%

% Chance of Scoreline: Port Vale 1 Swindon 1: 12% | Port Vale 1 Swindon 0: 10% | Port Vale 0 Swindon 1: 9% | Port Vale 2 Swindon 1: 9%

My prediction… With Swindon unbeaten in October and Port Vale now on the wane I’m suspecting we’ll continue our improving away form against one of the division’s leakiest sides at their home.

The real question is whether Foderingham can claim his fifth successive clean sheet… I certainly hope he can, so I’m predicting a nervy 1-0 victory for Swindon and another goal from our midfield.