Tuesday evening sees Swindon Town entertain Torquay United at the County Ground in the top of the table clash…

Form Guide… 

First placed Swindon are currently on a run of three defeats in twenty-five League Two matches. Town’s current form guide reads four wins and two defeats in six outings.

At the County Ground, Town are unbeaten since August, making it 16 games without tasting defeat and 44 points from a possible 48. Swindon have won their last ten games as hosts with only one goal conceded in twelve games.

2nd placed Torquay United trail four points behind, with Swindon also having a game in-hand – against Barnet at Underhill.

Torquay are one of the division’s form sides, on a five game unbeaten run; having won four, drawn once and suffered one defeat in their previous six League Two outings.

Away from Plainmoor, Torquay have won their previous three matches, with a record of five victories and one defeat in six games.

On a points per game basis, Torquay have the second best away record in the division picking up 1.88 points per game, just behind Southend with 2.

Swindon-Town-FC.co.uk Head-to-Head…

Town have faced Torquay 97 times, with a record of 38 wins, 27 draws and 32 defeats, scoring 157 and conceding 154.

At the County Ground, Swindon have 26 wins, 12 draws and 6 defeats, scoring 91 and conceding 49.

Torquay haven’t won at the County Ground in ten attempts. Their last victory came on 8th September 1984 in Division Four when an early Alan Mayes penalty wasn’t enough to prevent Town going down 1-3.

Earlier this season on Boxing Day, Torquay inflicted a first defeat in 10 league games in a 1-0 victory at Plainmoor.

Swindon-Town-FC.co.uk History book…

Torquay inflicted the Town’s worst ever League defeat in 1952 – scoring nine goals without reply after Town keeper Norman Uprichard left the field with concussion in the first half. Right half Harry Kaye and left back Harry May both took turns in goal, but were powerless to prevent the Gulls notching up their huge total – despite Swindon beating Torquay in both the League and the Cup earlier in the season!

Fifteen years earlier, Swindon broke their record transfer fee to bring Ben Morton to the County Ground from Plainmoor – the striker becoming the club’s first four figure signing. It took Morton until his twelfth game to score for the Town, when he netted against First Division Grimsby in the FA Cup.

What The Stats Say… 

The match sees Swindon, who remain the most efficient side in the division, face 11th ranked Torquay, according to our latest rankings.

Here are how the teams perform in each of the five attacking and defensive measures, when assessed against the rest of the division…

Defence					Attack
	STFC(Hosts)	r	Gulls    (Away)	r		STFC(Hosts)	r	Gulls  (Away)	r
Shots Against Per Game	6	1	15.7	24	Shots For Per Game	12	8	10.5	5
% Shots Against on Target	40.7%	3	48.1%	5	% Shots For on Target	49%	16	49.7%	13
% Save Rate	81.8%	4	86.8%	1	% Strike Rate	18.5%	3	11.6%	15
Corners Against Per Game	2.9	1	7.3	22	Corners Won Per Game	6.1	12	4.1	22
Possession Conceded	47%	4	52.2%	17	Possession Won	53%	4	47.8%	17
R = rank: The ranking shown for each measure indicates the efficiency of the sides against the rest of the division as either hosts or the away side | TheWashbag.com

Given that Torquay have exceeded all expectations with their superb recent run I’m shocked our rankings suggest they are the 11th most efficient side in the division overall and 14th in terms of their away form.

The rankings do highlight two key areas, and both of these in defence, which indicate where their strength lies. A division best save rate away from home of 86.8% and an ability to restrict a whopping 15.7 shots against per game to fewer than half on target. Consider Torquay have conceded the joint fewest (18) and scored just 22 (ranked 10th) away from Plainmoor, their last line of defence is perhaps their real strength.

SCORED	1-15	16-30	31-45	45+	46-60	61-75	76-90	90+
STFC (at home)	3	5	6	2	7	8	8	1
Gulls (away)	4	2	3	0	3	3	6	1

Town are stronger as the game progresses with an increasing potency in front of goal in the lead up to half time. Whereas Torquay are clinical in the final 15 minutes.

CONCEDED	1-15	16-30	31-45	45+	46-60	61-75	76-90	90+
STFC (at home)	1	1	2	0	0	2	2	0
Gulls (away)	2	1	1	0	5	5	3	1

With Town yet to concede more than two goals as hosts in any one period, Torquay are weakest in the early stages of the second half.

Kickoff.co.uk Prediction…

Result: Swindon Win 42% | Torquay Win 21% | Draw 37%

Full time result: Swindon 0-0 24% | Swindon 1-0 22%| Swindon 0-1 13% | Swindon 2-0 10% | Swindon 2-1 6%

My prediction… 

Of the top away sides in the division, Torquay United are the last of that bunch who have to travel to the County Ground this season. We’ve beaten Southend, Morecambe, Crawley, Cheltenham and Crewe at home so hopefully that trend will continue against the Gulls.

With no match in League Two for Swindon for 10 days there is the real threat that a defeat will see us displaced at the top of the table, albeit with games in hand. So a win is crucial, especially to carry that positivity to Wembley.

With Torquay not the best at scoring away and very tight in defence, this has a 1-0 Swindon victory written all over it…

Come on You Reds!