Doncaster Rovers

Rovers hit the road this weekend as they make the 177-mile journey to the County Ground to take on Swindon Town in Sky Bet League Two.

Danny Schofield’s men will be looking to make it back-to-back league wins in Wiltshire after goals from Ben Close and Kyle Hurst gave Rovers a victory over Tranmere Rovers on Tuesday night. 

The last meeting 

Swindon took all three points back home with them when they visited the Eco-Power Stadium back in September after a second half goal resulted in a 1-0 defeat for Rovers. 

The first-half in South Yorkshire was largely uneventful with the bookings of former Rovers teammates Tommy Rowe and Mathieu Baudry been the only major events to take place in the opening 45 minutes. 

However, in the second period, Ben Gladwin pounced on a poor defensive clearance and gave the ball to Jacob Wakeling who turned it beyond Jonathan Mitchell for the only goal of the game. 

Swindon’s recent form 

In their last ten games, the Robins have only managed three league wins and more recently have won just two of their last six games in a run stretching back to Boxing Day. 

Defeats to Walsall and Colchester United were punctuated with wins over Northampton Town and Grimsby Town – the latter by an impressive scoreline of 5-0. 

Five different scorers contributed that day with Charlie Austin, Marcel Lavinier, Jonathan Williams, Ronan Darcy and Saidou Khan putting the Mariners to the sword. 

After a postponement against Stevenage, came a six-goal thriller at home which saw the hosts fight back from two goals down to take a 3-3 draw. Williams put Swindon ahead after a minute but it took a second-half brace from Austin to share the points while Khan was also shown the red card late on. 

Their last outing saw Jody Morris’ side fall to a 2-1 defeat at Newport County with Rushian Hepburn-Murphy sent off and stoppage time substitute Oluwatomisin Adeloye scoring a late consolation. 

Key men 

Swindon’s number nine, Charlie Austin won’t need any introduction for most football fans with the 33-year-old striker plying his trade at the top end of the English footballing pyramid for most of the last ten years. 

He last month made a sensational return to the County Ground, after beginning his professional career with Swindon when they plucked him from non-league in 2009. 

He joined Burnley in January 2011 – making his debut in a 1-0 defeat to Rovers with now-Barnsley boss Michael Duff heading in an own goal. From Turf Moor he switched to Queens Park Rangers and won promotion to the top flight, where he would remain with Southampton. 

Spells with West Bromwich Albion and Brisbane Roar preceded his return to Swindon – where he has netted three goals in three games. 

Swindon had to do without Jonny Williams for a few weeks late last year after he was named in the Wales squad for the World Cup in Qatar. The veteran remains a popular member of the Welsh set-up and reached the semi-finals of Euro 2016 with the national side. 

Starting his career at Crystal Palace, the midfielder remained on their books until 2019, enjoying loan spells at Ipswich Town, Sunderland, MK Dons and Nottingham Forest during that period, before joining Charlton Athletic, with whom he won promotion to the Championship in 2019. 

Williams moved to Cardiff in 2021 and signed for Swindon in the same year. He has scored 13 goals in 63 appearances for Town. 

Swindon beefed up their attacking line at the start of the season with the signing of 23-year-old Luke Jephcott on loan from Plymouth Argyle. 

The striker came through the ranks of Plymouth and had his breakout period at the start of the 2020/21 season when he netted 16 goals in a 22 game period. 

Jephcott has gone on to score five goals in 19 appearances for Swindon since his loan move this term.