SWINDON skipper Mike Thompson believes that both his side and Royal Wootton Bassett will be battling against the temptation to let their inhibitions run wild when they renew hostilities tomorrow.

Swindon ran out 17-5 winners when the two teams met at Greenbridge Road in November but on Saturday, they take each other on at Bassett for the first time since April 2011.

Thompson, whose team are second-bottom in South West One East but have won three matches in a row, is looking forward to a local derby against Alan Low’s 10th-placed Bassett and is sure that both sides will arrive with discipline at the forefront of their minds.

“From a Swindon player’s point of view, you always look forward to a game like Bassett away because they’re your local rivals,” said the Swindon captain.

“From a young age, they’re always so close to you and you see their players on nights out and things like that, so there’ll be bragging rights on the line.

“We beat them earlier this season, so we’re one-up but it will be interesting to see what happens this time – I’m sure we’re confident that we’re going to do a job.

“I know Lowy, their head coach, quite well and I know that he won’t want his team to get away from their structure.

“I think that we’ll be the same. You train to play in a certain way but sometimes, you get a bit overexcited and things go a bit Harlem Globetrotters.

“I’m sure that both of us will try and make sure that doesn’t happen.

“It feels like a long time since we’ve played Bassett away but we’ve got a few players – like myself – that are used to these games.”

In contrast to Swindon, hosts Bassett have lost their last three games and head coach Low is still encumbered by a hefty injury list, although the likes of Kyle Lovell and Chris Patterson could return.

The Bassett chief is urging his troops to fight for every ball as they look to try and drag themselves away from relegation danger.

“We haven’t had a local derby for a few years at our place and we’ve got to get it right,” said Low.

“There’s a lot to play for and Swindon are right in there in the scrap at the bottom of the league at the moment, and we’re in that fight as well, and it’s going to be a fight for survival, so the players have got to be out there at the weekend giving it absolutely everything that they’ve got.

“It will be an absolute dogfight, I’d have thought.

“Hopefully, the result goes our way but we’ve got to get the performance right. We have to be clinical.

“When you’re in that scrap, you’ve got to make sure that you’re scrapping for 80 minutes and you’re not giving up in the 12th round.

“We’ve got to play beyond that 80-minute mark, and be switched-on and focussed as well.”