Whilst Rovers were limping to yet another home draw to secure their League One future next season, Swindon Town turned on the style and hit six past already relegated Port Vale.

Rovers' shortfall this season was encapsulated in this vignette of their season, where they dominated the first half hour, failed to score, allowed the opposition to score and spent the rest of the game attempting to regain parity. Ten more goals at home this season would, in theory, have seen Rovers gain and extra 20 points and put them in second place in the table.

As things stand Rovers are one place behind Swindon and a win could lift them towards mid-table. With Rovers and the Robins both securing their places the inevitable question of ground sharing with our Wiltshire rivals comes to the fore again. It is quite clear from the Swindon Town web sites that there is a great deal of animosity towards Rovers and their fans would certainly not welcome Rovers to the County Ground. However the financial 'rewards' of a ground share might force the Swindon Board to welcome Rovers to Swindon.

Despite that thrashing of Port Vale on Saturday, Swindon's away form is poor they have lost their last 4 away matches and have not won any of the last 7 away games. Town Boss Maurice Malpas said after the Port Vale game 'We now have a derby game against Bristol Rovers and I told the players before today that we wanted four wins from the remaining four games. We have one of those wins on the board and now we can look forward to the Bristol Rovers game.'

Looking at the background of professional football in Wiltshire the club was founded by Rev. William Pitt of Liddington in 1881, though some earlier records suggest the club may have been founded two years earlier in 1879, the team turned professional in 1894 and joined the Southern League which was founded in the same year.

In the 1909-1910 season Swindon reached the FA Cup semi-finals, losing to Newcastle United who subsequently defeated Barnsley in the final. In 1911-1912 the team again reached the FA Cup semi-finals, this time being knocked out by Barnsley after a replay.

Swindon became Southern League champions for the second and last time in 1914.
In 1920 Swindon entered the Football League as a founding member of Division Three and defeated Luton Town F.C. 9-1 in their first game of the season. This result stands as a record for the club in League matches.

In 1921 the Third Division became the Third Division South: a division from which Swindon was never to be promoted or relegated, although it did have to apply for re-election at the end of the 1932-1933, 1955-1956 and 1956-1957 seasons.

The post-war era saw Swindon competing in the lower divisions of the English League. Though in 1963 the club was promoted to the Second Division after finishing 2nd in Division 3, season 1962-63. The club was relegated two years later.

The club found shrewd managers in Bert Head and Danny Williams. In 1969 Swindon beat Arsenal 3-1 to win the League Cup for the first and only time in the club's history. This year also saw Swindon go back to the second division after again finishing 2nd in the 3rd division on goal average with Watford and Swindon joint on 64 points. The scorer of two of the goals in the League Cup final, Don Rogers, was also in form to help Swindon beat SSC Napoli 3-0 to win the Anglo-Italian Cup in 1970. Swindon also beat AS Roma 5-3 over two legs to win the inaugural Anglo-Italian League Cup Winners' Cup.

Swindon reached their lowest ebb in 1982 when they were relegated to the Fourth Division, and did not leave the league's basement division until 1986 when they were Fourth Division champions. A year later they won the Second Division relegation/Third Division promotion playoffs to achieve a second successive promotion.

Manager Lou Macari left in 1989 to take charge of West Ham United. Veteran midfielder Ossie Ardiles replaced Macari and in his first season they were Second Division playoff winners. But Swindon later admitted 36 charges of breaching league rules (a scandal which saw their chairman Brian Hiller being given a six-month prison sentence and chief accountant Vince Farrar being put on probation) and were relegated to the Third Division ? giving Sunderland promotion to the First Division and Tranmere Rovers to the Second Division.

An appeal saw Swindon being allowed to stay in the Second Division. But their form dipped in 1990-91 and by the time Ossie Ardiles moved to Newcastle United in March 1991, they were just above the Second Division drop zone. Former Tottenham midfielder Glenn Hoddle, 33, was named as Swindon's new player-manager and helped the Robins crush any remaining relegation fears.

Swindon progressed well during Hoddle's first full season as manager and just missed out on the Second Division playoffs. A year later they beat Leicester City 4-3 in the new Football League Division One playoff final to achieve promotion to the Premiership ? bringing top-division football to the club for the first time.

Hoddle moved to Chelsea during the summer of 1993 and was replaced by assistant John Gorman, but Swindon never adjusted to the pace of Premiership football. They went down with a dismal record of just five wins, as well as having conceded 100 goals ? the latter record has yet to be broken. Gorman was sacked in November 1994 with Swindon struggling near the foot of Division One.

Manchester City midfielder Steve McMahon took over, and despite a run to the League Cup semi finals Swindon suffered a second successive relegation and slipped into Division Two. They might have survived if high scoring Norwegian striker Jan Åge Fjørtoft had stayed, but he was sold to Middlesbrough on transfer deadline day.

McMahon succeeded in getting Swindon back into Division One at the first attempt, as they won the Division Two championship in 1996. But the club's financial state was getting more precarious and Swindon could not afford to build a side which might be able to win promotion to the Premiership; his only significant summer signing the underwhelming Gary Elkins from Wimbledon.

McMahon was dismissed in September 1998 with Swindon battling against relegation back to Division Two. He was replaced by Jimmy Quinn, who had taken Reading to the Division One playoff final in 1995.

Swindon's financial problems continued throughout the 1999-2000 season and their future was safeguarded just before the end of the campaign, thanks to a takeover by Terry Brady. But it was too late to save Swindon's place in Division One ? they had already been relegated in bottom place. The club's new owner sacked manager Jimmy Quinn and appointed Colin Todd ? who had won promotion to the Premiership with Bolton in 1997 ? as manager, in hope of getting the club's fortunes back on track.

Swindon had a dismal start to the 2000-01 season and Todd quit in November to take the assistant manager's job at Premiership side Derby County. Todd's own assistant, Andy King, stepped up to the manager's seat and remained there for the rest of the season. He achieved survival in Division Two but his short-term contract was not renewed at the end of the season.

Former Liverpool manager Roy Evans was brought in as Director of Football, with 33-year-old former Liverpool defender Neil Ruddock being employed as player-coach. But the pair had both left by Christmas, with Andy King beginning his second spell as manager. He made a shrewd new signing in Chelsea reserve striker Sam Parkin, whose 26 goals in 2002-03 saw Swindon finish tenth in Division Two.

Parkin was joined by former Birmingham and Watford striker Tommy Mooney for the 2003-04 season, and their prolific goalscoring combined helped Swindon achieve a place in the Division Two playoffs, but they lost on penalties to eventual winners Brighton in the playoff semi finals.

Swindon failed to make the playoffs in 2004-05 and Parkin was transferred to Championship side Ipswich Town. Andy King drafted in QPR forwards Jamie Cureton and Tony Thorpe, but neither player made much of an impact and it was soon clear that Parkin would be a very difficult player to replace successfully.

A mixed start to the 2005-06 League One campaign cost Andy King his job, and youth development officer Iffy Onuora took over at least until the end of the season.
Onuora was unable to save Swindon from relegation and they were relegated on 29th April 2006 after failing to win their penultimate game of the season.

Their relegation meant that they became the first ever former Premiership team to be demoted to football's basement league division, although they were joined by Milton Keynes Dons (previously Wimbledon) on the final day of the season.

On May 18th 2006 Dennis Wise agreed to become the new Swindon Town manager. Former boss Iffy Onuora was offered the chance to stay in a reduced capacity but it is understood he turned down that offer and will leave the club. Alan Reeves also departed after eight seasons as a player and then a coach. Gustavo Poyet became Wise's assistant.

Swindon won their first 6 games of the League Two campaign, putting them top of the division and resulting in Dennis Wise winning the Manager of the Month and Christian Roberts winning the player of the month award.

Shockwaves erupted around the County Ground in October when it was announced that Wise and Poyet had agreed to take over at Leeds United. Adrian Williams and Barry Hunter took temporary charge until the appointment of Paul Sturrock on November 7. Sturrock continued the good early work and despite losing their last away match of the season at the Mem he took hi team to a third spot and automatic promotion.

With both West Country clubs being regular members of the League's lower Divisions it is no surprise that they have met a total of 84 times and the record is pretty even. Town have won 40, Rovers 31 and there have been 13 draws. The first meetings took place in 1920-21 season with both home team's winning. The biggest winning margin took place as recently as 1984-85 when Rovers ran out 5-1 winners at the County Ground.

Last season Rovers run to the Play-Offs established a sense of reality when they won their last home game 1-0 against the Robins. It left Rovers needing 3 points from Championship challengers Hartlepool and the rest, as they say, is history.

Team news from Swindon is that Ben Joyce should be on the bench after scoring in his debut. Hasney Aljofree could return after serving a one game suspension however Malpas may choose to select the same squad who battered Port Vale.

The Robins thrilled a 7,361 crowd as Port Vale's teenage keeper Chris Martin had a full debut to forget. The 17-year-old could do little as Lee Peacock opened the scoring when he fired home from 15 yards and Craig Easton doubled the lead from 10 yards.

Jack Smith finished off a flowing move before Antony McNamee smashed in a fourth after a solo run. Michael Timlin got the fifth before half-time, with substitute Ben Joyce grabbing a late sixth.

"Commenting after the game Malpas said "We went out to make the supporters happy with the way we played and we certainly managed to do that. The supporters will all go away with happy smiles on their faces after that performance and I was delighted with the way we played."

"I just wish we'd carried on playing like we did in the first half because at one point it looked like we might even hit 10 against them. I was delighted that Ben Joyce came on and got a goal because he has been looking a bit short of confidence and that finish will certainly help him."

With three games of their season remaining Rovers can now look towards securing the highest possible finish without the spectre of relegation. A local derby with little but bragging rights should ensure this is a competitive but tension free game.

Written by Gerry Prewett