Johnstone's Paint Trophy Southern Section Semi-Final: Southend United v Swindon Town

Last updated : 06 December 2011 By exiledessexboy

Southend United.svg v Swindon Town crest

Team News

Phillips: Suspended

 Mark Phillips: Suspended for Tuesday evening

Southend duo Mark Phillips and Michael Timlin will miss the home fixture.

Centre-back Phillips and midfielder Timlin both picked up their fifth bookings of the season in Saturday's 1-1 FA Cup draw against Oldham and now serve one-match suspensions.

Timlin, however, would have been ineligible in any case under the terms of his loan from the Robins which runs until January.

Winger Jemal Johnson remains suspended by the Essex boys pending an internal investigation into his off-field behaviour, while striker Barry Corr and midfielder Harry Crawford (both knee) are long-term absentees.

Should Southend see off Paolo Di Canio's side at Roots Hall then they will set a new 18-match unbeaten club record, and also move to within touching distance of a trip to Wembley with only a two-legged area final against either Barnet or Brentford standing in their way.

Timmo's warning to Di Canio: www.southendunited-mad.co.uk

Di Canio: Optimistic

Di Canio: 'Southend have a united group with four or five players of very good quality' (Southend, united, very good Paolo)
 
Swindon will welcome back striker Jake Jervis for the trip to Essex.
 
The on-loan Birmingham hitman was not eligible for the Robins in their 1-0 victory over Colchester in the FA Cup second round on Saturday, as his parent club barred him from playing.
 
However, Jervis is available for selection against the Shrimpers and could make an immediate return to the starting line-up. Fellow forwards Mehdi Kerrouche and Lukas Magera are likely to be rested, meaning Alan Connell and Ronan Murray will be vying for a spot up top with the 20-year-old.
 
Swindon are hoping midfielder Simon Ferry will have recovered from illness to take part at Roots Hall, with Oliver Risser set to miss out if the Scot shrugs off the bug that forced him to sit out the game at the weekend.
 
Manager Paolo Di Canio has said he will make changes to cope with the hectic schedule his team are dealing with at present and he told the Echo:'Southend are in a very good moment in the league, they are at the top and they have been on a fantastic run since we beat them. They have improved a lot and they have a united group with four or five players of very good quality'
 
There could be a recall for winger Lander Gabilondo on Tuesday but defenders Joe Devera (ankle) and Alberto Comazzi are not expected to feature.
 
(Team info supplied by the Press Association)
 
TICKET PRICES
 
Good deal on the ticket prices though following the precident set in the FA Cup matches against Preston.
 
Non Season Card Holders:
 
Adults - £10, Concessions* - £5, Juniors (Under 16's) - £2.
 
Season Card Holders:
 
Adults - £5, Concessions* - £3, Juniors (Under 16's) - £1.
 
*Concessions include full-time students, senior citizens over-60, (nearly there!), and young persons 16-20.
 
Season card holders usual seats have now been released if you have not purchased a ticket in advance.
 
PREVIOUSLY
 
Head to Head: www.southendunited-mad.co.uk
 
REF



The man in the middle is James Linington from the Isle of Wight.

He has his critics: www.facebook.com

Go on, goggle his name, there's some horror stories about this one!

His assistants are Lee Betts and Elliott Kaye; The fourth official is Ian Cooper.

FIXTURES

Johnstone's Paint Trophy (all matches Tuesday, December 6th; kick-off 19.45)
 
Southern Secton Semi-Finals
 
Barnet v Brentford
 
Southend United v Swindon Town
 
Northern Section Semi-Finals
 
Preston North End v Chesterfield
 
Oldham Athletic v Bradford City
 
BET
 
Southend (to win) - 13/10, Draw - 5/2, Swindon (to win) - 9/4.
 
Southend to win 2-1, best of 8's.
 
For all the footy odds go here: www.oddschecker.com
 
HISTORY
 

The Swindon Town team for the 1909–10 season

Swindon Town Football Club was founded by Reverend William Pitt of Liddington in 1879. The team turned professional in 1894 and joined the Southern League which was founded in the same year.

The club's home ground is the County Ground, which has an all-seated capacity of 15,728.

Since turning professional in 1894, the club has enjoyed periods of proud success, most notably, during the period 1968-1970 when they won the 1969 League Cup (defeating Arsenal at Wembley Stadium) securing promotion to the Second Division.

League Cup success earned the club its first invitations to European competitions, but they were not eligible to participate because they played in the then Third Division.

So as compensation they were entered into the 1969 Anglo-Italian League Cup and the 1970 Anglo-Italian Cup, with Swindon winning both.

These wins were led by the club's talismanic winger Don Rogers. He has had the South Stand named after him from the 2007/08 season.

Swindon Town won promotion to the Premier League during the 1992-93 season, the only time the club has played in the top level of English football.

The Robins was the second team to win promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs, beating Leicester City in a cracker 4-3, with Glenn Hoddle as manager.

The 2009–10 season started positively with the club maintaining a play-off position going into the new year with the team at one point in second place with automatic promotion in their own hands.

However, a slight slip in form towards the end of the season seen Swindon finish 5th but still ended the season with a semi-final play-off place against Charlton Athletic. Swindon won the tie on penalties and went on to play in the Football League One play-offs final against Millwall at Wembley for a place in the Football League Championship.

Sadly for the Robins, they lost 1–0 in what was their first defeat in 4 appearances at Wembley. After losing the final Swindon lost their top scorer and former Shrimper Billy Paynter who joined Leeds United on a free transfer.

During the close season of 2010 many Bookmakers had Swindon as one of the favourites for promotion to the npower Championship. But after an unconsistent season, in which Danny Wilson resigned, on 25 April 2011 Swindon were relegated to League 2 after losing 3–1 to Sheffield Wednesday FC. It was seen that losing Paynter without a replacement was the main cause.

Swindon were midway in the season looking to push for a top six place, after a 4–2 win against Charlton Athletic, but did not follow this up and continued to struggle for the rest of the season.

Paul Hart was sacked, replaced for the last two games of the season by former player and current reserve and youth team coach Paul Bodin.

In the summer of 2011 the club took a gamble and secured the services of the charamatic Italian striker and former Hamster Paolo Di Canio as team boss, whether it will pay off or not, and after a 12-match unbeaten run that's taken them into the play-off positions the signs are good, we will find out in May.

(For a more comprehensive look at the club: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swindon_Town_F.C.)

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