An unusual Friday night kick-off sees Swindon travel to Cheshire to face Macclesfield Town in League Two.

Form… Swindon’s four wins in their previous five games has pushed Paolo Di Canio’s side right back into contention for the Play-Offs. And rightly so…

18th placed Macclesfield also sit 18th in the current form table, having won 2, drawn 1 and lost 3 of their previous six games.

At home The Silkmen have only been beaten once, an opening day 1-0 defeat by Dagenham & Redbridge, won and drawn two of their matches at Moss Rose.

Away from the County Ground, Swindon have confounded us all by putting swiftly aside pre-season promotion favourites Crawley, but suffered painful defeats at Cheltenham, Dagenham, Shrewsbury and Burton.

Swindon Team Speculation… Alan McCormack returns from his 1 game suspension, however will Di Canio change a winning side to squeeze in the former Charlton midfielder? Probably, given his love to follow Ranieri and tinker.

Both new loan signings Jake Jervis and Liam Ridehalgh are available after their 1 month deals were confirmed. With another striker on the books expect Paolo to take full advantage and fill up 3 of his 5 available substitute places with Magera, Storey and Jervis leaving us short elsewhere.

If Gabilondo, Atiku or Esajas feature in the matchday 16 that’ll be a shock.

Macclesfield Team Speculation… I’m clueless on potential team news for Macclesfield, however I can report….

The Silkmen are adding to the range of pies, pasties and sausage rolls with new additions – flame grilled burgers and premium, foot-long hot dogs.

The selection will be on offer for the first time this Friday night as the Silkmen face Swindon at the Moss Rose.

News all hungry Swindon supporters will indeed be thankful for.

Previous Meetings… Having only been members of the Football League since 1997/98, it’s unsurprising that we’ve only faced Macclesfield on two occasions.

Back in 2006/07 under Paul Sturrock, Swindon lost at Mose Rose 2-1 in December in front of 2,377, with Lee Peacock scoring for Town.

The return fixture a month later was a comfortable 2-0 victory with Ricky Shakes and Lee Peacock on the scoresheet.

What the Stats Tell Us… At home Macclesfield have scored 8 goals and like to score early, 3 in the opening 30 minutes, and late with another 3 in the last 15 minutes. Their defence has only conceded 3 goals at Moss Rose and are yet to concede in the opening 15 minutes or final 30 minutes.

Away from home, Swindon have, with the exception of Crawley, been goal shy. Scoring 4 on our travels, with 2 in minutes 16-30 and the other 2 in minutes 76-90. With 5 goals conceded on our travels only 1 has been conceded in the first half of our 5 away matches this season.

Macclesfield have only surrendered possession once at home this season – against Morecambe, while Swindon have only surrendered possession once away from home – against Shrewsbury. So it will be interesting to discover which team will dominate proceedings, or whether this will end in a stalemate?

Kickoff.co.uk Prediction… 

% Chance of Full Time Result: Swindon win: 36% | Macclesfield win: 35% | Draw: 29%

% Chance of Scoreline: Macclesfield 1 Swindon 1 : 14% | Macclesfield 0 Swindon 1 : 12% | Macclesfield 1 Swindon 0: 11% | Macclesfield 0 Swindon 0: 10%

My prediction… A win would be nice but my head says the money is on a 1-1 draw, which would be our first draw of the season