Colchester 1 Swindon Town 0

Was it really only nine days ago that we were basking in the glow of a 5-0 win?

How quickly things change in football.

Open up today's Adver, and - first of all - you're confronted with the news that Andy King has decided to "get tough" with those players humming and hawing about whether or not they should stay at the County Ground next season.

That means that, should Danny Invincibile decide he's on his way to pastures new this summer, Saturday's disappointing showing in Essex could be his last game for Swindon Town. With several other first team names also having to make decisions, the run to the end of the season could be pretty painful to watch - and a little puzzling as King dredges the not-very-deep-depths of his squad in order to field a team.

All this still doesn't explain the bizarre decisions Andy King made for the trip to Colchester. Reeves was dropped to the bench in favour of Ifil, while Hewlett inexplicably got back into the team in place of Steve Robinson. The result was a lethargic showing against a piss-poor Colchester side, which is all summed up in Jon Ritson's report today.

He makes a good point in his final paragraph: with lousy showings like that on the pitch towards the end of the season, there won't exactly be a scramble for season tickets. Successful sales are vital for the club, especially if they lower prices to get more people through the gate.

Yet you've got to fear that a team full of players with half an eye on summer holidays - and with a lot of departing stars sitting on the sidelines - the end of the season could be at best dull, at worst infuriating.

New away strip unveiled

... and it's the black and gold one, which you can see being modelled by a reluctant-looking Migs. It was the one that got my vote although that collar looks a bit tacky, and not at all like in the original illustration. Hope they rethink that before it goes on sale. Meanwhile, you can now vote on the new home top here - I'm plumping for the all red one.

King to get a new contract?

Here's one that will have the anti-King brigade spitting tacks: according to TeamTalk (so - hey - it might not be happening, after all) Andy King is going to be given a new contract...

Sam needs a sign

Weekend hero Sam Parkin plays a clever hand today in the paper, hinting he'll be happy to sign a longer-term contract - if Town prove their ambition by bringing in a few "names" this summer. This underlines the dillema that faces Town over the close season: on one hand, they need high season ticket sales to steady the finances, and a long-term deal for Sam (and a few new faces alongside him) will help those sales. On the other hand, selling Sam for a decent price could bring in far more money - but spark another revolt from fans, and send out a terrible signal to the rest of the squad, and anyone thinking of coming here. They'd see Swindon Town was only interested in survival, not prospering.

One positive sign would be Danny Invincibile deciding to stay, even if you happen to think - as I do - that he's too inconsistant to be as important to the side as some think he is. In our situation, you can't afford a player who turns it on once in every four or five games. After I posted the rumour I heard yesterday, other whispers emerged saying exactly the opposite: that Danny might be off to Reading, with Bristol-born forward Jamie Cureton coming the opposite way. I'm not quite sure how this deal would work: Danny's out of contract this summer, and he is now too old to attract a fee, so I could only imagine Cureton would come as inducement to release Danny before the end of the season. If I was a Reading fan, I'd see that as a gamble: exchanging a striker who can be relied upon at that level for a player who doesn't really get enough goals in a lower division, but maybe Reading see the potential as making it worthwhile.

But enough of all this worry. Relive Saturday's excitement - or the second 45 minutes, at least - through the match report in today's Adver. Hopefully the game will have provided some food for thought for the club's (business) management. That low crowd must have been down to the high matchday ticket prices, and low season ticket sales, because Wednesday's performance was good enough to encourage us all back, and it was even a nice day. It's a sad situation when people feel they simply can't afford to see Town twice in a week, no matter the side's form.

Thoughts for a sunny Sunday morning

-- Word from the County Ground rumour mill yesterday afternoon: Danny Invincibile might be staying. Last month Andy King didn't rate his chances of persuading Danny to stay: he'd "caught him" chatting to some agents after a midweek game the previous week. But my moles yesterday suggested there wasn't any drama: he was looking over an offer, and intended to stay if he and the club could agree terms. We'll see, I suppose.

-- Super Sam and Alan Reeeeves (like a good wine, improving with age - some superb tackles yesterday) both make today's division 2 team of the day in the News of the World.

-- Looking to the third division, I'm sure our weekends aren't being spoilt by seeing Oxford lost at home in what should have been a pretty straightforward game against lowly Macclesfield. They were "outplayed in every department", didn't create a decent chance in 90 minutes, and have now dropped out the play-off zone.

-- There was a notion being voiced last season, and the one before, that it would be better for Town to get relegated so the club could "regroup". It was being aired by various people including one local radio presenter. A glance at the division three table today should tell you how daft that idea was, if you hadn't thought that straight away at the time. Bristol Rovers, relegated in 2000-01, are one of seven - count 'em - seven teams fighting to avoid relegation out the football league, despite a fine 1-0 win against runaway league leaders Hartlepool. Let's offer up thanks we're not down there.

Swindon Town 5 Notts County 0

Super Swindon Town romped to a 5-0 win at a sun-blessed County Ground this afternoon, with Sam Parkin bagging a hat trick to send ex-Town keeper Steve Mildenhall home a very unhappy man.

The Notts County stopper had to endure a torrid second half stood in front of a Town End that spent most of the 45 minutes celebrating wildly.

Parkin got his first at the end of a quiet opening half, when Town looked the better side, by a margin, but did little to trouble the visitors.

It took a fumble by Mildenhall, when he dropped the ball at Gurney’s feet only for the Town skipper to scuff his shot wide, to wake the crowd up. Town turned the screw, began to control the midfield, and got their reward in the 43rd minute.

Andy Gurney took a free kick just inside the Notts County half, out in the left. Gurney’s driven cross was met powerfully on the edge of the box by Alan Reeves, who powered a header down into a thicket of legs on the penalty spot. Out of the chaos Parkin controlled and stroked the ball in low to put Town ahead.

Town were up and at County from the whistle to start the second half. Danny Invincibile – who had a good game today – powered in a shot that demanded a good save from Mildenhall, who also made a save off a Reeves header from the resulting corner.

And it was Danny who created the second goal, in the 59th minute – he crossed in from the right for Andy Gurney, who scored with a difficult volley on the spin, over his left shoulder.

Parkin got his second only a couple of minutes later: another goalmouth scramble saw Reeves knock the ball (again) to the striker, who calmly picked his spot and power it across and past the Notts County keeper.

The points were safe now, and you could see the team really begin to enjoy themselves, moving the ball around with ease and showing the kind of confidence you long to see a little more often.

And that happy mood was confirmed with Town’s quite superb fourth goal in the 69th minute. Notts County had been attacking, and won a corner, but it was cleared out to Danny Invincibile who was loitering with intent on the half way line. He hared off down the right wing, with David Duke waiting in the middle.

Danny crossed in to Duke, who controlled the ball, shifted it to one side to leave a defender and Mildenhall on the ground, and chipped the ball over the bodies. It was his first league goal, and his first at the County Ground, and it was certainly a strike to be proud of for one of Town’s unsung heroes.

Sabin, Young and Hewlett came on for Invincibile, Young and Lewis, which disrupted play a little, but Town were still looking dangerous, with Parkin on the hunt for that third goal and hat-trick.

That duly came in the 88th minute: Alan Young chased the ball superbly down in the Nationwide/Town End corner, won control and crossed for Parkin. A Notts County defender made a fairly feeble attempt to control the ball, and Parkin nipped in to nick the ball and cooly shove it past Mildenhall, and collect the match ball for the second time this season.

Shirts on the radio

Continuing from the news about strips yesterday, Dan the shirt man emails to say he's talking about his remarkable collection of Town tops on BBC Radio Swindon between 2pm and 3pm on Monday. It's all part of an item they're doing on collectors and fanatics. I daresay things are about to get a lot more expensive for Dan, as Town start releasing completely new kits every season...

New kits, every season

The official website announces that Town have signed a new kit deal with Strikeforce. The company will supply new home and away kits for the next two seasons - with a new set of kits being designed for each season to "maximise the value" of the deal. The official site is allowing us to vote on the away kit this week, with a similar online poll planned for next week.

There are already complaints from a few quarters - this will mean, including this season's kit, three new sets of strips in as many years. But the new kits will be priced at a very reasonable £29.99 for an adult top, which the club is claiming will be a league first. And, of course, nobody is putting a gun to our heads to go down to the club shop and buy the new strip every summer. In fact, the only real complaint I'd have about the whole thing is that it's only an internet poll for the new tops - that freezes out the fans who don't have ready access to the web (or choose to stay away from the awful official website), when doubtless the club still wants their money this summer.

Priority, for me, remains getting the ticket prices down - a ticket is the one thing every active football fan has to stump up for, and I'd love to sit among the size of crowd we enjoyed for the City game more often. If prices can be lowered, and gates increased, by selling more kits to those who are willing, that seems a pretty fair solution.

Meanwhile, who are Strikeforce? Well, they supply kit to Bristol Rovers - not altogether successfully, as this and this page suggests (that's a link to the Google cache page). You can see their original, official designs for the club here. They also used to make kits for Cardiff City, but don't appear to have a website themselves.

Swindon Town 1 Bristol City 1

Town grabbed a point against promotion hopefuls City, and put an end to their dismal run of form last night.

The biggest County Ground crowd of the season saw an entertaining and finely balanced match, where both sides had chances to grab all three points. But the home fans had most to shout about, especially after Andy Gurney sent a piledriving free kick off the post 12 minutes from the end.

The two goals came in the second period. Bristol City opened when, in their first attack after the break, they won a corner. As Scott Murray placed the ball, David Duke trotted from his left back position, in front of the corner-taker, to his customary position on the half-way line - past a completely unmarked Joe Burnell (I think - in my consternation, I couldn’t be sure who it was). The ball was duly played short to Burnell, who floated it in for a lurking Mark Robins. He nodded in from close range.

While you could have argued City deserved something for their first half efforts, it was a sloppy goal to give away - and you felt Town were worth at least a point.

Sam Parkin got the goal that won us that point in the 65th minute. Danny Invincibile raced through and should really have scored himself, but their keeper made the save and the ball fell to Parkin, standing around the penalty spot. He curled one past the keeper to send three quarters of the County Ground delirious.

The game continued at its helter-skelter pace, with both sides coming close. City enjoyed some pressure as they looked for a winner but Town grew stronger, it seemed, as the game went on. Heywood put his disappointing form of late behind him with some timely challenges, even Steve Robinson was harrying and tackling well.

And we were creating chances to win ourselves: Philips in the City goal looked nervous and dropped the ball, at one point resulting in some pinball-style action in the City box where Town were desperately unlucky not to score.

New signing Junior Lewis looked a very handy addition in the centre of the park. Taking the place of Matt Hewlett, he tackled strongly and distributed the ball well. At times he was maybe a little slow to spot the chance to release runners, but that will come as he learns his team mates’ style - and in the meantime, he did nothing too silly with the ball.

With Lewis alongside him, I thought Miglioranzi had a fine game in the middle, dictating play, spreading the ball around and sticking the boot in a few times too. It was good to see that - despite a physical and occasionally quite dirty City side - our midfield wasn’t out-fought. One worry was the lack of width, however: against the 4-4-2 of City our 3-5-2 wingback system looked very stretched at times. That wasn’t Gurney and Duke’s fault - they were simply being undone by City’s running - but it was a surprise (not to say a relief) that City didn’t appear to realise that was causing us the biggest problem.

Danny Invincibile continues to baffle, however. After a great chance in the opening minute, when he raced through on to a route-one ball from Junior Lewis only to shoot wide, he flitted in and out the game. He should have scored with the shot that Sam Parkin benefitted from in the second half, but overall this performance was patchy. Against a mobile and strong side like City he didn’t look that fast, and his ball control continues to disappoint - and deny him goalscoring chances.

But, overall, we can’t complain too much. The “right” Swindon Town turned up last night: full of fighting, with just enough to get the point they deserved. With just a little more luck we might have been celebrating three points this morning, and that’s the cheering thing for us: when they play like we know they can, this side really isn’t far off the second division pace.

Jimmy Davis on the telly

Town fans have perhaps a greater reason than most to keep an eye on Manchester United's otherwise meaningless Champions' League tie against Deportivo La Coruna tonight. With Man U through, and Deportivo out the game, live on ITV1, is likely to feature Jimmy Davis from the start. Funny to think the last time he appeared from the start in a first team game, it was at the County Ground. He got a standing ovation that day - here's hoping he gets another tonight as he leaves the Riazor Stadium's pitch...

Striker on the way

Today's Adver duly reports the arrival of Junior Lewis. I'll be interested to see what he's really like: he might have been rubbished by the Leicester fans, but he was playing at the top level in a very bad team - few players would shine there. And in his time with Brighton, in the second division, he seemed to do just fine. Despite all the negativity yesterday, I'm prepared to give him a fair crack of the whip - not least because if Andy King thinks he's good enough to play for Town, he's managed to convince a good judge of a player. He can't be much worse than what we have, on current form.

One player who we're not likely to see again, this season at least, is Jon Beswetherick, who returns to Sheffield Wednesday after his month's loan. He started out very brightly, impressing us all with a fine 60 minutes during the victory over QPR. But subsequent performances have left a lot to be desired. His showing against Cheltenham was particularly poor (along with the rest of the team, mind you) culminating in his sending off. He was maybe unlucky to see red, but he had been caught out again by the Cheltenham attack having been partially at fault for the first goal. It was always unlikely King would want him sitting out his three match ban while drawing a salary from Swindon Town. While the manager says he might reconsider things in the summer, I wouldn't hold my breath.

Junior Lewis signs

Junior Lewis of Leicester City has joined Town on a month's loan today. The 30-year-old midfielder goes straight into the squad - and, I suspect, the starting XI - for Wednesday's visit of Bristol City.

What kind of player is he? Well, he joined the Foxes in their final Premiership season so has top-flight experience, albeit in a struggling side that was ultimately relegated. There's a brief biog of him on City's official website, where the words "lanky" and "whole hearted" give an indication of what we should expect.

On Leicester's message board Kingstonrobin was quick to ask City fans what they thought of our new man. Responses were, to be charitable, mixed: "slow", "chuckle chuckle", "Bambi on ice", "good luck", "the build and footballing talent of a daddy long legs" and "absolute garbage, 100% commitment 10% ability" all figured in the responses.

One fan summed up: "can't pass, can't tackle, can't head, can't look up, can't run, can do his own laces up". Cynics might suggest he'll fit in well alongside Hewlett and Robinson, at least on their current form.

But the news wasn't all bad. Soho_Fox says "the guy is an absolute steal at Div 2 level" and goes on to suggest that City fans got on the player's back during a particularly bad time. "If they [the rest of the City team] had all been like him we would have stayed up no trouble," this presumably referring to Junior's workrate.

The only thing is, Soho's last paragraph gives me some concern. "I suspect Roberto Mancini was gutted to have had to leg it back to Florence to manage Fiorentina and no longer have the privilege of honing his skills playing alongside Junior. ENJOY!"

Is this what passes for humour up there?

Mansfield Town 2 Swindon Town 1

It seems this Town team is doing its level best to drag itself back into the relegation-fighting mire. We have now slipped to 13th place, with Notts County, Colchester, Barnsley and Chesterfield all within three points.

That means defeat midweek against Bristol City could, technically, see us fall to 17th place - and fall within range of a chasing pack of teams all struggling to avoid that fourth relegation spot. All told, there are only seven points between us and that berth to oblivion.

What makes it worse is that this unhappy state of affairs has come about by gifting three points apiece to three of the worst teams in the league. The latest episode came against Mansfield Town on Saturday, where another disastrous first half - similar to that against Cheltenham at the County Ground on Wednesday - hammered the nails in the coffin.

Town pushed hard on the lid in the second half, but found (to stretch this metaphor to breaking point) that the gravediggers were already piling in the earth.

Jon Ritson says today we were "desperately unlucky" not to claim a draw, but most Town fans will be thinking back to our fantastic performance against QPR and wondering how we got 2-0 down against a team like Mansfield in the first place. It seems there isn't far to travel between Town being wonderful, and being woeful.

The crumb of comfort I'm taking from this is that King appears to know what's going wrong. He's not sounding as lost as he did during last autumn's terrible losing streak; he's putting the blame firmly on the team's attitude.

"To get results, I need 11 players to fight and show tremendous energy, endeavour and willingness for 90 minutes," he tells the Adver today.

He's also talking about making a signing - he mentioned this on the radio on Saturday night too - who might take the problematic left midfield slot filled of late rather inadequately by Jon Beswetherick.

But you get the feeling the only thing that will end this season on a positive note is if the team collectively decides to pull its finger out.

This Wednesday night, against Bristol City, in a game many of us are, I suspect, already getting very nervous about indeed, would be a good time to start trying again.

Swindon Town 0 Cheltenham 3

(sorry for the late posting: the Blogger service that I rely on has been down most of the day - this rant was penned this morning...)

Following last night’s debacle, three questions spring to mind. First: how on earth was this Cheltenham side at the bottom of the table at kick off? Second: how was this Swindon team 11th (now 12th)? Third: why didn’t I stay at home at watch Corrie?

Yes, this was that bad. Swindon turned in a half-hearted, inept first half performance that left them with a mountain to climb in the second 45 minutes. Against a Cheltenham side that showed all the hard work and dedication the hosts lacked, we were never going to get close. For the second time this season, Town ended a game against Cheltenham down to ten men, and thoroughly beaten.

The first half was painful to watch. From kick-off, it was clear that Cheltenham were up for this. They were tight on our players to break down passing moves, and swiftly on to second and third balls if they didn’t win it first time around. Hewlett and Robinson were being completely out manoveoured and out-fought, with only Miglioranzi and Reeves looking remotely up for the fight.

Our visitors got a few early snatched efforts and a couple of corners, without capitalising, but it was enough to rouse a surprisingly subdued County Ground crowd of around 5,500 (although it looked like more) to urge their team to wake up.

They never did. Cheltenham’s first goal came on the half hour mark, when Heywood - who had a stinker - missed a long ball and failed to recover. Martin Devaney raced through, easily outpacing our lumbering defenders, to calmly slot the ball past Gremink. The worry for Town fans was that, at this point, it was the very least the relegation favourites deserved.

Worse was yet to come only eight minutes later. Cheltenham won a free kick on their left wing, which Grant McCann floated in to a crowded box. Nobody applied their foot or head to the ball, and it looked like John Brough got his studs, or a shin, to the ball to smack it in, possibly off someone else. Cue delirious celebrations for Cheltenham, and much finger-pointing and long looks from Town. It made for a pathetic sight.

Things could only get better in the second half, and for once King realised that change was needed early on. The hapless Hewlett was removed from midfield and Eric Sabin stuck up front. The change had some effect too: when Sabin’s playing at least the side looks to play low balls to get the Frenchman in behind defenders, rather than rely on hoofing long balls up from the back.

But Town’s appalling delivery - Duke chickening out of getting crosses in from the right, Beswetherick producing some of the worst corners I’ve ever seen on a professional football field - wrecked too many moves.

When we did enjoy some decent pressure, nobody could convert. Parkin showed some neat touches, as ever, but was otherwise quiet. Sabin and - in particular - Reeves had good chances to cut the deficit, only to blaze over the bar. In the defender’s case, he managed to clear the Town End roof from only a few yards out.

We never looked likely to make up the deficit, and that was confirmed when the Beswetherick got his marching orders. Martin Devaney got the ball just inside the Town half and raced clear of our central defence (sound familiar?). Beswetherick gave chase and performed what looked a very good sliding challenge, which clearly won the ball. It was probably his best contribution of the night, and the ref appeared ready to allow play to carry on.

But the linesman on the Nationwide side flagged for a foul just outside the area, and Beswetherick was sent off for a professional foul. It capped a night where he’d done little right and, like so many of his team-mates, shown precious little committement to the cause. He’ll now likely miss the next three games, which on last night’s showing would be no bad thing.

The final humiliation came when Damian Spencer, who had come on as a substitute, was given acres of space and as much time as he wanted by Heywood. The lad took full advantage, curling a lovely 25-yarder past Bart to seal the points.

So we know Beswetherick will be out for Saturday. The rest of his colleagues have, alas, to show up on Saturday because there are precious few alternatives for Andy King.

It’s a terrible shame: there were plenty of players for whom a run in the reserves might serve as a useful reminder that – rather than looking for moves to bigger clubs – they should regard themselves as fortunate to have a league club at all. Instead, they will have to prove they give a toss about the shirts on their back - and having seen this performance, none of us should hold our breath.

No sponges required

Forget team news for tomorrow: all we want is a weather forecast. And, so far, things look fine: damp today, but dry tomorrow with sunny spells, and a decent wind to dry that pitch off.

Today's Adver has an interview with Daren Dykes, the winger King snapped up last summer from non-league football who's been toodling round the reserves and did a month at Lincoln City. It's nice to see a footballer appreciating that he's doing something most of us would give our right arms to be doing (or, at least, have the ability to do in the first place): "I wake up every morning and thank my lucky stars that I have been given another chance to do what most lads dream of becoming when they’re at school.”

But has anyone seen him play in the reserves? Is he a Danny replacement, or will he (as the well-connected Big Stan suggests on MOS) be one of those shown the door in the summer?

Town turn down Danny bid

Today's News of the World reports that Town have rejected a bid by Sheffield Wednesday to take Danny Invincibile on loan. It adds what we already suspected: that he's unlikely to be staying at the County Ground, having turned down the offer of a new contract.

The loan request seems, on the face of it, a strange one, given Danny's a first-team regular: I wonder if such a deal might be connected with a permanent deal for Jon Beswetherick? Mind you, it would be unlikely to fulfill Danny's desire for football at a higher level: it looks like Wednesday will be joining us in the second division next season.

Northampton 1 Swindon Town 0

Well that, I feel, went spectacularly badly. Twenty quid punted on three winners - Rangers, Swindon and Arsenal - would have netted me almost enough to buy a season ticket at the County Ground next season (yes - that much). All sure bets, I thought.

Instead, Rangers lost an Old Firm game for the first time under Alex McLeish. Swindon Town, tipped by yesterday's Racing Post as one of the better bets for the day, managed to turn out a flaccid performance to hand Northampton their first win since New Year's Day - and their first win at home since November. And even Unstoppable Arsenal managed to let Chelsea have another bite at winning a trophy by conceding a late goal at Highbury.

More on Northampton later, once the headache from all the whiskey consumed last night wears off. In the meantime, my fellow Town fans can rest assured I'm giving serious consideration to putting a tenner on Cheltenham to win on Wednesday night. We're bound to get the points if I do.

Come on Town...

Well, with Rangers letting me down on the first leg of a three-game accumulator (Rangers, Swindon, Arsenal to win), I need some cheering up: come on you Reds...

No worries for Sixfields trip

Off up to struggling Northampton tomorrow, to play a club second from bottom and beginning (along with Cheltenham) to look a little cut off from the rest of the relegation-fighting pack. They're on a ten-game losing streak and have been swapping managers the same way most of us swap socks. Although they're likely to have Derek Asamoah back in the side as he continues his return from a knee injury, we have to fancy our chances of coming away with three points.

For us, the midweek injury worries appear to have evaporated, aided by the game being called off on Wednesday night. Our hosts tomorrow, meanwhile, were over at Colchester on Tuesday night and, it seems, rarely troubled the home team - they didn't manage a single shot on target all night.

We've been there ourselves, of course, more recently than we'd care to remember, so we all know that these runs always come to an end. But with super Sammy Parkin returning to Sixfields for the first time since his miserable time there last season, and sounding pretty up for the game, surely it's not all going to come good for them tomorrow... is it?

New Cheltenham date

What's the opposite of a rain dance? Whatever it is, start boogying for some dry weather in the run up to next Wednesday, the 12th, to which Town's home game against Cheltenham has been re-arranged.

More on last night's events: it appears the club hired, for a modest £600, a machine to attempt to clear the pitch. But it got held up in traffic and didn't arrive until 6pm, by which time the referee - doubtless spotting the chance for an early night - had decided the whole thing was off. Andy King was said to be fuming, although today's Adver reports that Gurney, Hewlett, Invincibile and Beswetherick were all nursing injuries. At least with the game off, they can all recover more fully for Saturday's trip up to Northampton, and the pitch hasn't been ruined for the rest of the season. I just hope they get some kind of refund on that pitch clearing machine.

The move also means it'll be two midweek derby games in a row: on the 19th we host Bristol City, so keeping the players fit is going to be important over the next couple of weeks.

Tonight's game is off

Everyone who has watched the near continuous rain fall in Swindon today would half be expecting the news, and it has arrived - very late on. The club website reports that tonight's game at the County Ground has been called off because of a waterlogged pitch.

The late call-off is, perhaps, understandable given the fact Cheltenham fans wouldn't have far to travel, but it's still frustratingly late in the day. The club's attempts to clear the pitch with a machine specially brought in perhaps delayed things further, and also give an indication of how much they wanted the game to go ahead. Such cancellations are always very expensive for the home club - many of the matchday costs have to be paid, whether or not there's a game on.

Injury worries ahead of the big game

I'm sure everyone is pretty much totally up for tomorrow night's game against Cheltenham, although a few injury worries add a note of concern to the build-up. Jon Beswetherick, who hobbled off on Saturday (to a standing ovation) has sore shins and a slightly swollen knee. Matt Hewlett and Danny Invincibile both have sore feet.

Of the trio, I'd say Beswetherick would be the greatest loss, although there's precious little proven cover for Hewlett if he's out of action. And Danny? Well, after Eric Sabin's performance at the weekend, he could find himself warming the bench anyway.

Manager of the month

and the division two winner is... Queens Park Rangers boss Ian Holloway, who won two and drew two in February. Now: I know this is going to sound more than a little sour, given that a full month has passed since Andy King was passed over for this dubious honour, but let's look at QPR's record before they got well beaten at the County Ground: a home draw with Mansfield, a home win (4-0) against Port Vale, an away draw with Northampton and an away 4-2 win over Chesterfield. Good grief.

More on Saturday's win

Jon Ritson's match report is now online, although I'll be nipping into the newsagent on the way home tonight to buy my copy. It's one of those wins you really want to savour.

One thing I failed to mention yesterday was the excellent performance of Eric Sabin. OK - he blazed one over the bar early on, and had another chance or two he failed to capitalise on, but I thought his pace down the left was a vital part of the win. It's always hilarious to watch a defender who doesn't know of Eric's pace, as the Frenchman simply knocks the ball in behind and chases after it. And, of course, it was his flick that led to the first goal.

Danny Invincibile, out at the weekend with an ugly toe, may struggle to regain his place if Eric keeps up this form.

Swindon Town 3 QPR 1

Well, the earth moved for me. Town were, quite simply, superb against QPR, in what must rank as one of the finest performances the County Ground has seen in the last few seasons.

From back to front the team rediscovered the form of earlier this year, and it was all capped by a quite beautiful goal by Sam Parkin. Against his boyhood heroes (he had a Loftus Road season ticket until only a few years ago) Super Sam produced a gem in the second half that sent Town on their way, and the QPR masses heading for the exits.

The delirious celebrations on the pitch were reflected in three stands, however, and things got even better only four minutes later when big Matty Heywood came up for a corner, and nodded powerfully into the net from only a few yards out.

It says a lot for the quality of the performance that, even with more than 20 minutes left to play against one of the league’s better sides, we didn’t have too many fears about Town shipping any late goals.

That might have had a lot to do with one of the game’s other outstanding moments: a great Bart Gremink save in the first half, with the score at 1-1, when a QPR player raced clean through. Bart confronted him just inside the box and, just as the player looked like he was going to round the big keeper and pull the trigger, Bart somehow hooked his right arm round the ball to clear it away.

The warm, and extended, round of applause from the big crowd was well deserved; we all had that sinking feeling that precedes what you think is a certain goal against, and it was as good as a goal for when Bart pulled off his save.

Bart made a few other good saves through the game as well, but he was being well shielded by a team that harried and pressurised their opponents. Alan Reeves had an immense game, making at least two crucial tackles and clearance after clearance. Beswetherick had a very promising home debut on the left - Duke moved to the right and Andy King later praised the balance this change gave the side.

Yet it could all have gone very wrong. Town looked in control in the opening stages, with Eric Sabin wasting an early chance when he blazed high and wide after using his pace to get clear, albeit at an acute angle.

With a little more than ten minutes on the clock, QPR were enjoying their first period of proper pressure down at the Town end, cheered on by around 2500 of their fans massed in the rain on the Stratton bank. Their goal was simplicity itself: Gino Padula swung it in and Danny Shittu nodded past Bart.

They were fortunate to go up, and Town’s equaliser was well-deserved, and well executed. A ball was lofted in from the right flank, Eric Sabin won the flick on the edge of the area, and to the surprise of all Steve Robinson was racing in from the inside left channel to control and send a deft shot past Culkin.

Town went on to enjoy plenty of pressure for the remainder of a very entertaining half, with one amazing period of corner after corner just after the goal, but a combination of good defending from QPR’s big back line, and some poor finishing, kept things equal until half time.

But that was before the heroics of the second half. In the 63rd minute Parkin got the ball just outside the box, and there followed one of those moments when time stands still at a football match. He pounced on some slack play and, suddenly, it became clear he was going to go for goal himself. As QPR defenders flew in, he used his quick feet to sidestep at least two of them, slaloming past their challenges before calmly stroking the ball along the grass and into the bottom left corner of the net.

His shirt was barely back on his back after the wild celebrations before Matty added his headed conclusion to the scoring. And the goals had the Town End singing “bring on the Cheltenham” long before the final whistle.

On this kind of form, bring on anyone you like: you’d fancy we’d have a better than good chance against anyone in this division. Surely retribution for a terrible night last September is on its way on Wednesday night.