Navarro content with weekend off (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

SWINDON TOWN: Navarro content with weekend off

6:00am Friday 15th February 2013 in Sport By Sam Morshead

Alan Navarro

ALAN Navarro thinks a weekend without a game will do Swindon Town good as they prepare to take on Tranmere and their difficult Prenton Park playing surface on Tuesday night.

The Robins were originally meant to make the trip to MK Dons tomorrow but the tie was postponed after the Buckinghamshire side reached the fifth round of the FA Cup, meaning Navarro & Co will be in training on Saturday and Sunday prior to the long trek to the Wirral.

The game against promotion-chasing Tranmere was called off last month due to a frozen pitch and midfielder Navarro, who once cost Rovers £225,000 when he moved from Crewe to Prenton Park in 2004, does not expect the pitch to have improved that much by the time Town come calling next week.

“It’s going to be a long week for us,” he said.

“It’s strange not having a game on Saturday but we’ve got to prepare right for the game on Tuesday. It’s a big six-point game.

“The pitch is not great so it’s going to be a battle and a grind and whoever goes out there is going to have to expect to fight.

“They’re going to be exactly the same.

“It’s going to be interesting to watch them on Friday night and see how the pitch is and how they go.

“Hopefully we can pick up answers.

“It (the pitch) is going to be even worse.

“They’ll probably just fill it with sand and it just drains your legs after half an hour or 40 minutes of playing on it, especially when the ball’s going to be in the air quite a lot of the time.

“All you’re doing is running and tackling.

“It’s going to drain the boys so it might be a blessing in disguise not to have a game on Saturday and watch them play Friday.

“We’ll be a bit fresher for the Tuesday game.”