On Saturday morning live on Soccer AM, Swindon Town found out who would be their opponents in the JPT Area Semi Final.

It will be an away trip to Paul Sturrock’s Southend United in early December for the Robins.

I let out a cry of “No!” when the draw was made. Surely this is the worst possible draw for us in the Semi Final…

Swindon and Southend have met at the same stage of the competition back in the 04-05 season under Andy King and on that occasion Town came away from Roots Hall very disappointed after a 2-0 defeat. Hopefully on loan midfielder Michael Timlin will be unavailable to play for the Essex based club against us.

With Tuesday performance against AFC Wimbledon it clearly shows that Paolo Di Canio is taking this tournament really seriously and a Wembley date next year could be on the horizon.

On Saturday afternoon Swindon entertained Huddersfield Town in the FA Cup 1st Round.

It was great to watch Swindon dismantle a high flying and unbeaten Huddersfield 4-1, in a game that was was televised on Setanta Ireland, and Fox Sports in the US and Australia.

The draw for the 2nd Round was made on Sunday afternoon. Again, like the JPT draw, there was another load “No!” heard as ball number 6 – Swindon – were  drawn away at Colchester United. After the (relative) glamour tie of Huddersfield, Swindon now have a bit of the gloom tie away at Colchester United.

With this game the Robins will came up against former player Michael Rose who couldn’t wait to jump ship to Essex in the summer. Swindon have the capacity and the quality to get a result in the 2nd Round and the dream of a real glamour tie in Round three. You never know…a return to Upton Park for Di Canio…?

Interestingly, Swindon Town have never played Colchester United in the FA Cup, however Swindon Supermarine did face the ‘U’s’ in the 2nd Round last season.

The FA Cup 2nd Round tie will be played weekend commencing the 3rd December. The JPT Area Semi final tie will be played just days later in the week commencing the 5th December.

Another busy week of cup football awaits.