12.15 on Saturday lunchtime Swindon Town face Rotherham United in the live televised League Two match.

Form… Unbeaten Lead leaders Rotherham visit the County Ground with an perfect 2 wins from 2 games away record, 6 scored and 2 conceded.

Swindon eventually demolished Crewe on the opening game 3-0 but against Oxford found a stubborn defence less easier to penetrate with a 2-1 defeat. 4 league successive defeats wasn’t what we were expecting less than a month ago…

Swindon Team Speculation… Leon Clarke is set to climb out of his pram to partner… oh wait.. Expect Magera to make his first start with likely partner in Medhi Kerrouche. Oliver Risser is still sidelined so it’s between Ferry, Smith, McCormack and new loanee Abdullah in midfield. Comazzi dismissed some concerns about his fitness by playing the full 90 minutes against Southampton so expects to retain his place with our Player of the Month Aden Flint. Italian keeper Lanzano may be given his first start in-place of Phil Smith.

Rotherham Team Speculation… ALEX REVELL ALEX REVELL ALEX REVELL!!! Oh shit! The former Town loanee is likely to feature and you can bet he’ll score… New loan signing Brett Williams (from Reading) is likely to make an appearance. Troy Brown is away on international duty with Wales u21.

Previous Meetings… The two sides have faced each other 26 times with Town dominant following 16 victories, 4 draws and 6 defeats. It just gets even better reading for games at The County Ground with 13 played yielding 10 wins, 1 draw and 2 defeats, however one of those defeats was our last meeting in Swindon, a 3-2 defeat in League One in February 2006. The sides have never met each other in the Cups.

From The Archive… 31st March 2001 – Nationwide Division Two – Rotherham 4 – 3 Swindon Town

Andy King took his relegation threatened Robins to South Yorkshire to face Ronnie Roore’s table toppers. As I was in Sheffield at the time it was just a short trip across the M1 to Millmoor.

What a pulsating game! Gary Alexander managed to pounce to fire Town ahead only for an Alan Reeves own goal to level things after 12 minutes. Mark Robins then secured the opening goal of his eventual hat trick with a header, but it was Alexander again who fortuitously equalised 2 minutes later with a deflected shot. With the scores level at half time, a magnificent Ian Woan free kick rocketed Town to the lead for a second time, but it was Robins who spoilt Town’s party with his second then his late tap in winner from a Paul Warne cross with 6 minutes to spare.

What the Stats Tell Us… Rotherham have scored 12 goals this season however only one – against Crewe at Gresty Road – has been scored in the first half. 5 of their 11 second half goals have been scored in minutes 46-60, 2 between 61-75 and 4 in the final 15 minutes.

The Millers have yet to concede in the opening 35 minutes of a league match this season.

Neither team have scored in the opening 15 minutes of a League match this season.

As for Swindon, we’ve out shot our opponents 57 to 36 in our league games however our goal conversion rate has been inefficient, scoring a goal every 11.4 shots compared to 6 opposition strikes at goal.

Prediction… A televised encounter and early kick-off to boot. The two are normally the magic recipe to conjure a Town defeat. Against unbeaten opposition you’d might as well bet on Rotherham preserving that record with at least a draw, but remaining optimistic and with Clarkegate now behind Di Canio I’d like to believe Swindon can set our league record straight in front of the cameras to get us moving in the right direction. 3-2 to Swindon… that’s wishful thinking.

Your score and team line up predictions please…