SWINDON Town Official Supporters Club board member Tim Keen reflects on a reality check for Ben Garner’s men, discusses the first Advisory Board meeting, and looks forward to Northampton away.

Well Saturday was a bit of a reality check, wasn’t it? I think it’s fair to say that when the season started just over a month ago, most fans would have taken a finishing league table position for Swindon Town anywhere above 23rd as being something of a success story.

However, with the excellent start the club has made and some eye-catching signings now on board, it’s probably also fair to say that most fans now have slightly higher expectations for how this season is going to play out.

Success really is a double-edged sword, isn’t it? On one hand, it’s bringing fans back to the County Ground - it’s astonishing that this is the first season for over 27 years that the club has had an attendance of over 8,200 fans in all their first four matches.

But on the other hand, we’re all turning up expecting us to put teams like Port Vale to the sword – and it’s frustrating when it doesn’t happen.

So, I think we all need to take a step back and let Ben Garner and the two Scotts work with our fledgling squad out on the training pitch and see what happens in the next few weeks.

I’m sure they’re as frustrated as us that yet another high-pressing physical League Two side stopped us in our tracks on Saturday and I’m sure they’re working on a game plan to beat that when it happens again.

Off the pitch, it was the inaugural Advisory Board meeting last Tuesday – this was attended by Anthony Reeves, who is a member of the OSC committee and runs the social media accounts.

It was a very positive meeting and the club will be sharing some of the points discussed in the coming days. Anthony commented that it was really refreshing to see first-hand the positivity, passion and drive that is now present at the club and on a personal level he felt very confident that the club now has a much brighter future. We’ll also be explaining how fans can interact with the Advisory Board through the OSC in the coming weeks.

Well, fingers crossed for a successful away day at Northampton then – a repeat of that fabulous Jordan Lyden winner on that cold night last February would be great!