Boss calls for fans' backing (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

SWINDON TOWN: Boss calls for fans' backing

6:00am Saturday 23rd March 2013 in Sport By Sam Morshead

Town boss Kevin MacDonald

KEVIN MacDonald has called on Swindon Town supporters to stick with the team for 90 minutes this afternoon as they bid to end their poor recent home form.

Town have not won at the County Ground since seeing off Shrewsbury on January 19 and in the two months and five matches since have rarely found their potent best in front of their own fans.

Results such as the draw against Hartlepool and the miserable defeat to Bury left many Robins supporters disappointed, and those emotions were expressed through booing and jeering which MacDonald hopes can be left to one side when Notts County coming calling today.

With eight games left of the League One campaign, Town have a realistic chance of automatic promotion to the Championship - and manager MacDonald has asked for patience from fans when things aren’t going as well as they might like.

“You look at a lot of clubs and they’re finding it difficult at home because the expectation is to come out and attack and be the team in ascendancy, and it doesn’t always work like that,” he said.

“I think the crowd need to be patient and the big thing for me is, if things aren’t going well because teams will come to try and stop us playing, we need the crowd to get behind us like they do in the away games and try to give the players that extra little bit of belief in themselves.

“Especially away from home in the three games we’ve had they’ve been fantastic, and I just hope on Saturday they will have that same response for the players if things aren’t going particularly well and if they are going well then to really raise the roof.

“The expectation is very high but I think at any football club the expectation level should be high. “Here because they got promotion last year and have been up there all season it’s high.

“I think if we keep doing what we’re doing and the fans keep getting behind us rather than if things don’t go well they get a bit down on the players, if they get behind us we’ve got every chance of getting promotion.”