Swindon Town Football Club's chase for promotion

A monthly column from Alfie Howlett

League 2 is now well past the half way stage, which means only one thing. We can now start checking the league table every Saturday.

It's at this time of the season that the league standings really begin to take shape. Who are the nailed on certainties for promotion? Who will put together a late run of form to force themselves into the play-off reckoning? And who are consigned to battling the drop?

From what I've seen so far this season I'd say that Swindon are one of a myriad of teams chasing the third and final automatic promotion spot.

In my opinion it's hard to look past Forest Green and Tranmere when it comes to automatic promotion. Forest Green have led from day one thanks to the lethal duo of Matthew Stevens and Jamille Matt. Rovers are the top scorers in the league and despite failing off at this stage in previous campaigns this year they show no signs of slowing down.

On the other hand Tranmere are relatively quiet in front of goal compared to those around them. However, Micky Mellon's side boast the best defence in the league. Which is a key component in any promotion chasing side.

And then come six or seven sides who all find themselves in with a chance of grabbing third. Those teams are: Swindon, Northampton, Sutton, Newport, Mansfield, Exeter and Port Vale. If I was to pick a winner out of the seven it would be between Swindon and Mansfield.

The Robins have done very well against fellow promotion contenders, with the only thing letting them down being form against the bottom half. For example registering just two points from a possible six against lowly Stevenage are not returns you'd expect from a team chasing promotion.

If Swindon can find a way of picking up victories against teams that are less expansive then they'd certainly be troubling that third spot. As for Mansfield it's been a season of two halves. Nigel Clough's side were much fancied at the start of the season for promotion, however the Stags experienced a tough start to the campaign picking up 11 points from their first 14 games.

Since then, their form has been impeccable. If they were to sustain their current momentum they'd definitely find themselves challenging come the end of the season.

It shouldn't be forgotten how remarkable it is that we can even have this discussion about Swindon chasing promotion. After all the turmoil of pre-season I didn't expect Town to be anywhere near the promotion picture.

I expected this season to be one of consolidation not one of such high quality football. In truth before a ball was kicked I would've even taken 22nd. Therefore wherever Town end up from here it's been a good season all things considering. However have no doubts about it the preferred destination is league 1 football.