Town boss Mark Cooper spoke to his club’s official website and the Swindon Advertiser ahead of his side’s League One game against Carlisle at Brunton Park tomorrow, Cooper expecting a tough proposition from the Blues:
“I am sure that Carlisle will be desperate for three points, or a result, and I am sure they will feel that they can get that playing against us. Defensively they have done very well, they have added Gary Madine to that who is a very, very good striker. So, we have to make sure that we take care of him and his partners and make sure we pose a threat at the other end of the pitch as well. Fingers crossed the way we have been defending lately we will make it hard work for their strikers.
“Carlisle are fighting for their lives, they have not conceded a lot of goals, but nor have we in the last few games. So, it looks like it is going to be 5-5 doesn’t it, defences on top. But, I think we know that if we keep playing and fighting like we have done then we have got a realistic chance of getting something up there.
“Our dressing is good, the players are in a confident mood, they are just looking forward to the next game and that is what we are now as a group. We are going to take each game as it comes and if we manage to win enough of them then who knows what can happen. But, you never feel comfortable in football because you don’t know what is round the corner. You keep your feet on the floor and not get too high when you win and not get too low when you lose, leave that to other people.
“But, I just want us to work really hard and with the ability we have got in the team and the individuals we have got, if we work really hard we have always got a chance of getting a result. It is simple for us too, we have to win as many games as we can, we can’t look at anybody else because we can’t affect their results, so we just have to win as many as we can and see what happens.
“So, Carlisle is just another game that we have to win, I think if you start worrying about other teams then it can then become a little bit of a muddle. What we have certainly not done over the last four games is worry about anybody else, we have just concentrated on ourselves. We know we’re the rank outsiders so we have to win an amount of games. I always thought, all along, that we had to win a certain amount to have any chance - a points total - and that hasn’t changed.
“It’s nice to be written off because that gives you a chance to prove people wrong and we keep doing that. I’ve said before that I want to finish the season as strong as we can. I said it when we lost to Milton Keynes and the play-offs had gone, I just said we wanted a strong finish to give people optimism for next year.”
In team news for the Robins tomorrow they have five definite absentees, plus doubts over another, with central midfielder Massimo Luongo having missed Swindon’s 2-1 home win over Sheffield United last weekend with a slight calf strain. Out for the season are Ryan Harley, Ryan Mason and Nile Ranger, left-sided midfielder Harley suffering from a hip problem, Spurs-loanee central midfielder Ryan Mason recovering from recent ankle surgery and centre-forward Ranger out with a torn hamstring.
Town’s two other players missing meanwhile being Spurs-loanee centre-half Grant Hall with a calf problem, while central midfielder Alan Navarro has a more long term knee injury. In better news for the Robins though midfield playmaker Alex Pritchard is back available after serving the final game of a three match suspension against the Blades.
The referee for tomorrow's match is Nigel Miller from Consett in County Durham and he will be assisted down the lines by Michael Denton from Todmorden on the Lancashire/West Yorkshire border and Glen Hart from Darlington. Meanwhile, the fourth official is Ross Joyce from Middlesbrough.