Wrexham and Swindon Town will be seeking to claim back-to-back League Two victories when they lock horns at the SToK Cae Ras Stadium on Saturday.
The two teams opened their accounts for the new league season in midweek, with Wrexham winning a six-goal thriller against Walsall and Swindon coming from behind to beat Forest Green Rovers.
Match preview
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After failing to claim maximum points in their opening two League Two fixtures, Wrexham celebrated their first football league victory in 15 years courtesy of a 4-2 home success over Walsall on Tuesday.
Ten days on from a 5-3 opening-day defeat at home to MK Dons, the Wrexham faithful witnessed another goal-fest on home soil, with Will Boyle scoring just eight minutes into his home debut before Ollie Palmer, Jake Bickerstaff and Elliot Lee got their names on the scoresheet to help the Red Dragons pick up all three points against the Saddlers.
Manager Phil Parkinson was impressed to see a number of his key players 'step up to the plate' and believes that his side are now starting to find their feet in the fourth tier after securing promotion as champions from the National League last season.
Wrexham have now scored three or more goals in each of their last seven home league games, but improvements need to be made at the back as they have conceded more goals (eight) than any other League Two team so far this season.
The Red Dragons are preparing for their first meeting with Swindon since November 2009 when they suffered a slender 1-0 home defeat to the Robins in the FA Cup second round.
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Like Wrexham, Swindon picked up their first three points of the new campaign on Tuesday when they secured a 2-1 comeback victory away against 10-man Forest Green.
The Robins were trailing at half time courtesy of a 14th-minute opener from Mathew Stevens, but Daniel Kemp restored parity just two minutes into the second half before the sending off of Forest Green's Harvey Bunker on the hour mark changed the course of the game.
Indeed, Swindon pushed for the winner and were eventually rewarded thanks to a dramatic 95th-minute strike from defender Frazer Blake-Tracy, handing Michael Flynn his first victory since taking charge of the Robins in May.
Flynn admitted after the match that his side made "hard work" of their win over Forest Green and that they "would have won comfortably" if they had been more clinical in front of goal – the Robins have now scored just five goals from 56 shots across their opening three games of the new season in all competitions.
Swindon's win at Forest Green will provide a much-needed boost for Flynn's men considering they struggled to grind out positive results on the road during the second half of last season, winning just two of their 11 away games since the turn of the year.
The Robins will now look to win back-to-back away league games for the first time since December of last year when they take on a Wrexham side whom they have beaten in their last two meetings.
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Team News
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Wrexham are still having to cope without star striker Paul Mullin who is recovering from a punctured lung sustained on their pre-season tour of the USA, while Parkinson has confirmed that James McClean and Jordan Davies are both ruled out with respective knee and muscle problems.
Centre-back trio Boyle, Ben Tozer and Eoghan O'Connell are all set to continue in the back three, protecting veteran shot-stopper Ben Foster, while Anthony Forde and Jacob Mendy provide width as wing-backs.
Palmer ended an 11-game goal drought dating back to March with a brilliant strike in midweek and the striker will be pushing to start again in attack alongside either Bickerstaff or Billy Waters.
As for Swindon, Tyrese Shade and Tom Clayton are closing in on a return from injury but are not expected to be involved this weekend, while Reece Devine is facing an extended period on the sidelines after undergoing hamstring surgery earlier this month.
Saidou Khan, Benn Ward and Jacob Wakeling were all dropped to the substitutes' bench in midweek and will be hoping to force their way back into the first XI on Saturday.
Courtney Baker-Richardson and Shilow Tracey will be hoping to return to the starting lineup in attack at the expense of Charlie Austin and Jake Young, who both played the full 90 minutes in midweek.
Wrexham possible starting lineup:
Foster; O'Connell, Tozer, Boyle; Forde, Jones, Young, Lee, Mendy; Palmer, Bickerstaff
Swindon Town possible starting lineup:
Mahoney; Goodwin-Malife, Brewitt, Blake-Tracy; Hutton, Khan, Kinsella, Uwakwe; Kemp; Tracey, Austin
We say: Wrexham 3-2 Swindon Town
An entertaining contest with plenty of goalmouth action is expected between these two sides on Saturday and both teams will fancy their chances of claiming maximum points.
However, we believe that Wrexham will follow up their midweek home triumph with another success in front of their own fans.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
