SWINDON Town head coach Scott Lindsey hopes Harry McKirdy will be on his best behaviour when the striker returns to one of his old clubs, Carlisle United, on Saturday.

Swindon make their longest away trip of the season off the back of two defeats and a draw from their opening three league and cup matches.

The past two fixtures have seen Town players shown a red card, with McKirdy’s first-half dismissal against Salford City preceding Harrison Minturn’s late sending off against Walsall in the League Cup on Tuesday.

Lindsey will be desperate to keep all 11 men on the pitch at Brunton Park as his team searches for its first win and goal of the campaign.

One of the most likely men to break Town’s fast in terms of goals is McKirdy, and Lindsey is hoping a return from suspension will see the opinion-splitting forward show his best side having turned over a new leaf.

Asked whether the timing of McKirdy’s return to a club he has previously stated he “hates” is a good or a bad thing, given his recent dismissal, Lindsey said: “I’m hoping this isn’t the worst game for him to come back for, I’m hoping it actually has the opposite effect and he concentrates on the job he needs to do more.

“I’ve said it before about Harry, he’s only happy if his football is going well, so I think he’s determined to behave himself this weekend.

“I’ll speak to individual players about certain things, and that’s something I’ll probably bring up with him.

“But there will be other little bits of information that will be drip-fed into the players along the way, so I will probably mention [discipline].”

In contrast to Swindon’s tough start to the season, Carlisle have begun this campaign as they ended the last under manager Paul Simpson – with optimism and confidence.

A win and a draw in League Two action see the Cumbrians enter the weekend’s clash as favourites, and Lindsey is aware of United’s key threat.

He said: “They’re a very challenging prospect. They’ve had a good start to the season.

“In their first game, they beat Crawley 1-0. I watched the game, they were very competitive.

“They put a lot of balls into your box, and they cross from different areas, so we’ll have to be ready for that.

“And they went to Colchester last weekend and got a good point at a hard place to go.

“They’ve had a good start to the season, and they’ve got a really experienced manager in Paul Simpson, so we know it’s going to be a very, very tough game.”