SWINDON Town Official Supporters Club treasurer Tim Keen discusses the club’s successful cup record this season, as well as mentioning the group’s plans for brightening the lives of children in hospital this Christmas.

How good does it feel like to be in the second round of two cup competitions then?

It’s been a while since we’ve been able to experience that feeling as a Swindon Town supporter!

Another brilliant away day performance at Crewe Alexandra which led to a 3-0 win landed us with another away day trip to Walsall and a chance to pitch ourselves against one of the bigger fish in the football ocean in the third round of the FA Cup.

For anyone who watched club captain Dion Conroy on this week’s Monday Night Panel (it’s still available on our YouTube channel if you missed it), it was interesting to listen to Dion talking about the team spirit at the club – he said this is the best he’s ever known.

I think you can see from the goal celebrations and some of the content posted on social media that Ben Garner has built a very tight knit group of players, and this bodes well for the second half of the season.

As for the Official Supporters Club, we’re now gearing up for Christmas.

We’ve joined up with Swindon Town and Foundation Park to collect gifts for the children who are spending the Christmas period at the Great Western Hospital. These gifts will be given to the Brighter Futures team to then pass onto the children.

We are asking for donations of gifts for children aged between new-born and 17 years old. The gifts must be brand new and cost no more than £10 – examples could be puzzles, books, or games.

If you’re able to help, gifts can be dropped off at the Official Supporters Club table in the Legends Lounge before the next two home games – Hartlepool United and Harrogate Town - or at Foundation Park by Friday, December 3.

Members of the Official Supporters Club will then help with wrapping and labelling the presents with an appropriate age range, before delivering them to the hospital.

Finally, all of us have our fingers crossed for a seventh successive away win (in all competitions) on Saturday against Newport!

COYR