SWINDON Town head coach Scott Lindsey is excited to see his players test themselves against a fellow promotion contender but says the result will not define the club’s season – for better or worse.

Town head up to the University of Bradford Stadium on Tuesday night for a clash with Mark Hughes’ Bradford City in League Two.

Both sides head into the game occupying a play-off spot and will be hoping to remain there at the very least come May.

Lindsey was complimentary of the Bantams’ playing style in his pre-match press conference on Monday and believes the possession statistic could be far closer than in many of Swindon’s games.

And asked whether the game will give Lindsey a better idea of where his team ranks among their rivals, the Town boss: “Possibly. They’re a good side. I’ve watched them closely, and they’ve got some good players in their team.

“They’ve got a real physical presence at the top of the pitch in Andy Cook too. But they’re not a team that, even though they have that physical presence, will welly the ball up there and hope for the best.

“They manipulate the ball through the thirds, and once they get it wide they look at crossing it for him. And they’re good at it. That’s why they are where they are in the league, because they’re quite efficient with the way they work.

“They’ve got a very experienced manager, and we know it’s going to be quite a tough game.

“Is it a marker of where we are? Yeah, probably. Is it a marker of where we’ll end up? Probably not. We’ve just got to go there and give the best account of ourselves on the night.”

Town head into the final run of a hectic October which features eight games in all competitions.

Because of that, Lindsey admitted he will have to make changes to his starting line-up against Bradford on Tuesday and potentially against Mansfield Town on Saturday as well.

He said: “I think the next two games will require freshness, definitely.

“It’s a long way to Bradford, there were some sore legs after the game on Saturday, and we have some players in the squad who, historically, haven’t coped well with playing Saturday-Tuesday.

“I will, more than likely, have to freshen things up a bit, and we’ll do everything in our power to put a real fresh team out on the pitch in both games.”