Swindon vs York City Predictions

The FA Cup can often be a welcome distraction from a league campaign which is perhaps not going to plan, and for Swindon Town and York City, that is certainly true as neither side has had the sort of season they will have hoped for at the start of the campaign. This weekend, the sides do battle at the County Ground with a place in the FA Cup second round the prize on offer.

For the hosts, they will certainly be expecting to overcome a side who are two divisions below them in the league pyramid and who they have traditionally got the better of over the years. However, the Robins have plenty of improvements to make if they are going to accomplish this and they come into this match having lost three of their last five outings. Boss Phil Brown is coming under increasing pressure with the side low in the League Two table, so the chances of playing a weakened side and taking the win for granted appear to be quite low.

When you talk about sides who have had a bad few years, there are little that can compete with York City over the last three seasons. After finally clawing their way back into the Football League, their return was short lived as they soon found themselves back in non-league football. Under the reign of former Celtic defender Jackie McNamara, it would only get worse as the Minstermen suffered back-to-back relegations and are now playing regional football for the first time in their history.

Phil Brown was in the crowd to assess the opposition as York City suffered a 3-0 defeat to Spennymoor Town in the National League North a few weeks ago, and he should take plenty of confidence from that clash as the Minstermen were lacklustre that night. Given that the visitors have lost three on the spin, it is hard to make a case for them to claim a positive result despite the troubles of their hosts. With this in mind, we think it should be a pretty confident win for the hosts so backing them with a (-1) handicap looks to be the way to go.