Dan the Fan: Cutting edge needed (From Swindon Advertiser)

Dan the Fan: Cutting edge needed

9:00am Friday 26th August 2011

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After nearly 9 years of build up and months of anticipation since the fixtures were released the A420 Derby was ultimately a huge let down and an awful day to be a Swindon Town fan.

From the first whistle to the last Town dominated the game and I’m sure even the most deluded Oxford fan would agree they didn’t deserve anything from the game but with that game over eye’s must turn to improving the clubs poor start to the season.

The main problem has been a lack of cutting edge in the box and with the signing of Lukas Magera and Leon Clarke over the past week that should be a thing of the past.

Lukas joins the club after gaining a lot of experience in European leagues and has been capped by the Czech Republic on four occasions so far.

When Paolo joined the club I sort of expected players from all across Europe to join the club but getting a player who has recently played for his country and in European competitions is a big coup, lets hope he can live up to his reputation on the pitch starting this Saturday.

The signing of Leon Clarke last Friday was another great capture by the club, after having his career stall slightly at QPR after having success at Wolves and Sheffield Weds I’m excited to see what he can bring to the club this season and he made an impressive start last Sunday and Tuesday.

With a lot of new faces coming into the club its to be expected that players will leave either permanently or on loan and after seeing most of the Danny Wilson playoff team leave it looks like Michael Timlin and Kevin Amankwaah will be next to move on soon.

With Kevin now being third choice right back at the club behind Caddis and Thompson its been on the cards he’d be moving on this season, on his day a couple of years ago in League One he could be a key player and i'm sure he'll end up back in League One soon.

I’m more surprised that Timlin might be moving on with him getting high praise from Di Canio in pre-season and signing a new deal only a couple of months ago, I hope he only goes out on loan and will be back at the club some point in the future.

It wouldn’t be long until we got to see the clubs new signings again when we made the short trip on Tuesday to take on Bristol City in the League Cup.

After starting the game in the same tempo we finished the Oxford game it looked like we would walk comfortably into the 2nd round but again the end product in the box was letting us down.

At H-T Raffaele De Vita replaced Alan Connell and early on his impact wasn’t clear for everyone to see but midway through the half De Vita sound himself alone in the box and calmly put his chance away past David James to secure Town’s progression into the next round.

After the poor start to the season this result should be the springboard to push on and start to pick up more points and climb the league table.

This Saturday we take on Shrewsbury at their new home the New Meadow for the first time.

With Shrewsbury being a lot of pundit’s favourites for at least a play-off spot this season the game will be another tough challenge for Di Canio’s men but after are League Cup heroics the team’s confidence will be on a high and i can see us bringing back 3 points from Shropshire.

Don’t forget you can follow me on Twitter @danjohnson6.

Also take a look at my new weekly League Two blog on @NATTERFOOTBALL.

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