Wycombe take aim at high-flying Robins

Wycombe Wanderers entertain Swindon Town on Saturday in their 44th league game of the season.


The League table currently shows Wycombe in 22nd place with 41 points from 43 games, while Swindon occupy 4th spot with 78 points from 43 games.

Swindon's Away Record is..........Won 9....Drawn 7....Lost 5
Wycombe's Home Record is.......Won 5....Drawn 6....Lost 10



This game will be no end-of-season stroll in the park. It instead promises to be a thrilling encounter between two sides who still have everything to play for, with both aware that anything less than a win will almost certainly crush their remaining ambitions.

Wycombe are valiantly fighting to avoid the drop and need a win to stay within touching distance of safety ahead of potentially vital games against fellow strugglers Orient and Gillingham.

Defeat for the Chairboys could see them relegated by 5 o'clock on Saturday evening if Exeter win at home to Charlton and Gillingham pick up a point at Norwich.

Swindon are now guaranteed at least a play-off place and are only two points below automatic promotion. Vying with Leeds, Millwall and Charlton to clinch the coveted second-spot, the Robins have no reason to settle for anything other than a win.

A draw is of little use to either side unless all their rivals lose.

On paper Swindon are firm favourites, but if confidence is an important factor when it comes to winning football matches, Wycombe may have a better chance of success on Saturday than the odds would suggest.

Having had little to be confident about all season, the Chairboys have suddenly pulled three convincing wins out of the hat and are currently playing with the freedom of a team who feel they have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Swindon, on the other hand, are without a win in their last three games. A superb run of results including a 3-0 win over Leeds United at Elland Road saw the rampaging Robins move briefly into 2nd spot, but since then, their confidence has been dented by a heavy defeat at Colchester and two successive home draws against Exeter City and Walsall.

The Robins are heavily reliant on their two frontmen Charlie Austin and Billy Paynter who have scored 44 goals between them and are likely to provide Wycombe's patched-up defence with a far bigger test than they've faced in recent games.

Bearing that in mind, Blues' boss Gary Waddock has to decide whether to start with a fit-again Julian Kelly at right-back or continue to play midfielder John Mousinho out of position.

That would appear to be the only quandary facing Waddock, with the rest of his side almost picking itself after recent performances.


Stats are probably meaningless for a game like this but here they are anyway......


Swindon's last five games (All Competitions)

LG1: Leeds (A)................Won 3-0
LG1: Tranmere (H)..........Won 3-0
LG1: Colchester (A).........Lost 0-3
LG1: Exeter (H))............Drew 1-1
LG1: Walsall .(H)............Drew 1-1


Wycombe's last five games (All Competitions)

LG1: Huddersfield (H)........Lost 1-2
LG1: Walsall (A)................Lost 1-2
LG1: Hartlepool (H)...........Won 2-0
LG1: Tranmere (A)...........Won 3-0
LG1: Franchise (A)............Won 3-2


Swindon Goal Stats (50 games in all Competitions)

Goals Scored (Total).........73
Goals Conceded (Total).....53

Goals Scored (Away)........33
Goals Conceded (Away)....30

Clean Sheets....17


Wycombe Goal Stats (47 games in all Competitions)

Goals Scored (Total).........57
Goals Conceded (Total).....84

Goals Scored (Home)........27
Goals Conceded (Home)....39

Clean Sheets....7


Swindon's Top Goal Scorers (All Competitions)

Billy Paynter............25 (inc 8 pens)
Charlie Austin..........19
Daniel Ward..............5
Scott Cuthbert...........3
Kevin Amankwaah.....3

Six other players have each scored 2 goals.
Two other players have each scored 1 goal.


Wycombe's Top Goal Scorers (All Competitions)

Jon-Paul Pittman.......10 (inc 1 pen)
Matt Harrold.............10 (inc 6 pens)
Alex Revell................5 (inc 1 pen)
Matt Phillips...............4
Kevin Betsy...............4
Scott Davies..............4
Stuart Beavon...........3

Three other players have each scored 2 goals.
Ten other players have each scored 1 goal.


Swindon Shooting (Top-3)

Billy Paynter..........65 on-target...61 off-target...6 against woodwork
Charlie Austin........36 on-target...18 off-target...0 against woodwork
Daniel Ward...........29 on-target...22 off-target...1 against woodwork


Wycombe Shooting (Top-3)

Jon-Paul Pittman.....34 on-target...25 off-target...1 against woodwork
Scott Davies...........19 on-target...24 off-target...4 against woodwork
Matt Phillips............21 on-target...20 off-target...2 against woodwork


Shooting (Club)

Swindon......267 on target...201 off target...22 against w'work (Rank-9)
Wycombe....217 on target...206 off target...12 against w'work (Rank-16)



League Form Guide

All Season
Swindon.....Pld: 43...W: 21..D: 15....L: 7.....Pts: 78...Pts per game: 1.81
Wycombe...Pld: 43...W: 9....D: 14....L: 20...Pts: 41...Pts per game: 0.95


Since 1st January 2010
Swindon........Pld: 21...W: 11..D: 7...L: 3...Pts: 40...Pts per game: 1.90
Wycombe......Pld: 19...W: 5....D: 8...L: 6...Pts: 23...Pts per game: 1.21


Against Top Half Opposition
Swindon.........Pld: 20....Pts: 27....Pts per game: 1.35....(Rank-7)
Wycombe.......Pld: 23....Pts: 24....Pts per game: 1.04....(Rank-13)


Against Bottom Half Opposition
Swindon.........Pld: 23....Pts: 51....Pts per game: 2.22....(Rank-4)
Wycombe.......Pld: 20....Pts: 17....Pts per game: 0.85....(Rank-24)


Last Five league Games
Swindon............WWLDD - 8 points
Wycombe..........LLWWW - 9 points


Last Five League Games (Away)
Swindon.........WWWWL - 12 points


Last Five League Games (Home)
Wycombe..........DDDLW - 6 points



Earlier this season an 89th minute goal from Ashley Chambers cancelled out Kevin Amankwaah's 17th minute strike to earn Wycombe a 1-1 draw at The County Ground.


Previous Meetings at Adams Park


1995/96: LG1 Wycombe 1 Swindon 2
1998/99: Lcp. Wycombe 2 Swindon 0
2000/01: LG1 Wycombe 0 Swindon 0
2001/02: LG1 Wycombe 1 Swindon 1
2002/03: LG1 Wycombe 2 Swindon 3
2003/04: FAC Wycombe 4 Swindon 1
2003/04: LG1 Wycombe 0 Swindon 3
2006/07: LG2 Wycombe 1 Swindon 1
2006/07: FLT: Wycombe 1 Swindon 0
2007/08: FAC Wycombe 1 Swindon 2




The Man In The Middle

Saturday's referee is Stuart Attwell from Warwickshire who in August 2008 became the youngest person to referee in the Premier League. Later that year he also became England's youngest international referee when he was named on the FIFA list aged just 25. His most recent Wycombe game was the 1-0 defeat to Leeds United at Adams Park earlier this season. During the current campaign he's issued 88 yellow and 4 red cards in 25 games.



Prediction

Wycombe 2 Swindon 1 - The Chairboys to take another scalp.



Rivals' Saturday Games

Colchester v Tranmere
Exeter v Charlton
Millwall v Orient
Norwich v Gillingham
Oldham v Southend

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