Swindon. Now, what does that remind me of?

They make cars there, of course, but it’s only boring old Honda. Let’s face it, when Triumph/BL stopped making the 1500/Dolomite, the old blokes in pork pie hats had to pick something else top drive and they chose Honda, so it’s not the companys’ fault, but that doesn’t make them any the less boring.

There’s Mark Lamarr, who was born there as well. Trouble is, he’s funny at first, then you get a bit bored with the style and realise he’s just an annoying, supercilious git.

There’s also Billie Piper, who was also born in the town. Now, Billie is an attractive enough thought, but then you get into trouble wondering how her eyebrows can be such a different colour from her hair and that leads you down avenues it’s best not to explore on here.

Ah, now I’ve got it! It’s where we clinched the Second Division Championship. There’s a happy thought. Tomorrow it should see the last game of us “managing” until the loan window opens, hopefully without the period since the loss of Fox and Dann damaging our promotion chances too much.

The Saddlers should have a clean bill of health for this game. Mark Bradley was missing from the last outing, but the weekend off hopefully means that he’ll be fit to resume in midfield. Certainly Richard Money had said that he doesn’t feel Alessane N’Dour is up to speed yet and would rather not have played him for so long at Swansea.

The other problem area will be up front, where Tommy Mooney should be refreshed and ready to go against his former employers and there is still a chance, if rumour is to be believed, that reinforcements may arrive today in the shape of a certain ex-England striker. The only problem with Ricketts signing if it is true, is how fit he’ll be after a lengthy lay off.

There is no team news as yet from the Swindon camp, where new manager Maurice Malpas went with the following line up in their last game, a 0 – 1 reverse at Forest:

Brezovan, Comminges, Ifil, Aljofree, Vincent, McGovern, Easton, Pook, McNamee, Paynter, Sturrock. Subs: Phil Smith, Kanyuka, Zaaboub, Ashikodi, Roberts

The interesting thing here is that Christian Roberts, who has always looked a threat in the past, can only get a place on the bench. Former Saddler Jamie Vincent and old enemy Jon Paul McGovern are also likely to be lined up against us.

Predictions?

Since beating Forest on the 19th January (courtesy of two own goals!), Swindon’s record has been a little inconsistent, winning two, losing two and drawing three. One of the wins was also against crisis club Luton. They have only lost three games at home this season, however, and this is going to be a tough proposition. Personally, I’d be happy with a repeat of last season’s 1 – 1.