Smith out to rewrite recent Swindon history

SWINDON defender Jack Smith is hoping his side can erase the bad memories from both last week and their last visit to Stockport when they face the Cheshire side today.

Smith is one of the few survivors from Swindon’s previous trip to Edgeley Park, a League Two clash in March 2007 that saw the Robins beaten 3-0 and reduced to 10 men after Jerel Ifil was sent off.

But the 24-year-old believes Town have the quality up front to ensure a result – as long as he and his defensive colleagues cut out the errors and maintain their composure.

He said: “We want to put last week behind us, out of our minds. We’ve been looking good going forward and we’ve scored, I think, in every game bar Cheltenham. We’ve just got to try and keep a clean sheet, and if we do that we’ve got a great chance. We’re always likely to score a couple of goals.”

Town boss Maurice Malpas, a 55-times capped former Scotland international defender, has called for a strong reaction from his players, including a better mentality on the pitch when incidents go against them. And Smith admits the advice is evident in the film of last week’s match.

“It’s always tough watching the video but it gives you ideas how to put it right,” he said. “Any manager would have been tearing their hair out. It’s just a bad game, a bad day at the office.”

The spectre of the axe still looms over some of the team despite the manager’s assertions that any reshuffle of his side should not indicate any player being made a scapegoat.

Smith said: “We’ve had a loss, so I guess everyone’s position is up for grabs. You could play that game again and not make those errors. We never felt unduly threatened by Leeds, so it was just that we weren’t playing well.”

The team retains a sense of humour, though, and a number of players, including Smith, have agreed to join midfielder Craig Easton in raising money and awareness for testicular-cancer charity TacheBack by growing moustaches.

For the journey north, Barry Corr’s place on the bench is in doubt after he missed training with a 24-hour bug, but Peter Brezovan could replace substitute keeper Mark Scott after recovering from a slight shoulder injury.

Stockport are boosted by the return of summer signing Carl Baker in midfield, and they are seeking their first home win of the season.

Swindon Town (from): P Smith, Brezovan, Scott, J Smith, Aljofree, Ifil, Nalis, Amankwaah, Casal, Easton, McGovern, Marshall, McNamee, Peacock, Timlin, Cox, Paynter, Corr.