Form… Swindon, the third best home performers, face Gillingham, who with 3 wins, 1 draw and 3 defeats on the road have been inconsistent on their travels.

Town are unbeaten in our last 3 League games, unbeaten in 4 at home and have two successive victories under our belts.

Gillingham come into the game on the back of an improvement in form. Also unbeaten in 3 League games with two successive victories.

Swindon Team Speculation… Medhi Kerrouche will miss the game after picking up his 5th booking of the season away at Plymouth.

With no fresh injury concerns could Di Canio start with the same starting XI for the third successive game?

Gillingham Team Speculation… Teamtalk.com reports:

Gillingham will be without suspended duo Lewis Montrose and Joe Martin. Midfielder Montrose scored the winner in Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Oxford, before being dismissed for a late challenge on Asa Hall.

Defender Martin also saw red after picking up two yellow cards and will sit out the visit to the County Ground.

Gills boss Andy Hessenthaler has therefore received a timely boost with the return to full fitness of three first-team players.

Midfielders Danny Jackman and Charlie Lee made second-half substitute appearances against the U’s after injury, with captain Chris Whelpdale completing over an hour at Priestfield after recovering from a calf problem.

Hessenthaler has selection concerns in attack though, with Danny Kedwell (toe), Dennis Oli (hamstring) and Adam Birchall (knee) all sidelined. Defender Barry Fuller (knee) and midfielder Danny Spiller (ankle) remain unavailable.

Swindon-Town-FC.co.uk Head-to-Head… In the 88 Football League and FA Cup matches between the sides, Swindon have won 34 games, drawn 26 and defeated 28 occasions.

Our record against our Kent rivals at the County Ground is one of our best with 28 wins, 10 draws and only 5 defeats from the 43 matches.

Swindon have not lost at home to Gillingham since a 1-0 Division Three defeat in March 1982, when an early Micky Adams goal gave the Gills their first away victory over Town since 1965.

Town have won their 4 previous matches against Gillingham at home; 3-1 in January 2010, 5-0 in October 2007, 1-0 in February 2006 and 2-1 in the second leg of the Division Three play-off final in May 1987.

From The Archive…

How can I choose anything other than Town’s victories against Gillingham in the 1986/87 Division Three Play-Off Final and the replay at Selhurst Park.

Kickoff.co.uk Prediction… 

% Chance of Full Time Result: Swindon win: 38% | Gillingham win: 35% | Draw: 27%

% Chance of Scoreline: Swindon 1 Gillingham 1: 13% | Swindon 1 Gillingham 0: 10% | Swindon 2 Gillingham 1: 9% | Swindon 0 Gillingham 1: 9%

My prediction… With two successive victories, Swindon face their biggest test for some weeks, but we’ve raised our game against the division’s stronger side and our defence now looks increasingly assured, so its a Swindon win, say 2-0.