Swindon Town under 18s manager David Farrell says his team enjoy playing at Foundation Park ahead of this weekend's Merit League fixture against Stevenage

Town won their first Merit League contest last weekend in thrilling circumstances – a 5-3 win away at Exeter City made it three points from three following the first week’s postponement against Portsmouth.

This weekend’s fixture will be a different challenge altogether, according to Farrell, as Stevenage did not play their Youth Alliance games in the same division.

Therefore there will be an element of the unknown when the two sides meet in the shadows of the County Ground.

Farrell said: “Stevenage aren’t in our league, and they change year on year. They’re usually quite well organised, they’re physical, but a decent footballing side. So it will be a challenge for us, definitely.

“They probably won’t know much about us either, and we’ve got a few different things we want to bring to the table. Hopefully the boys can deliver it and we can get three points.”

As previously mentioned, Town’s academy will be playing another of their season’s contests on the newly built artificial surface that has also been used by Swindon Town Women in recent weeks.

The senior men’s side have seldom used the pitch however as manager Richie Wellens is not a fan of artificial surfaces.

Farrell has no such issue however and is thoroughly looking forward to carrying momentum from training into a game.

He said: “It’s great for us because we played there a couple of times at the end of the regular season and the boys really enjoy it.

“It’s right next to the County Ground, you get a decent crowd coming to watch and we’ve often played well on there, so the boys are really pleased to get another run out on Saturday.

“And I quite like it as well – we train on 3G surfaces all week, so it makes things easier.

“It doesn’t affect us at all playing on a 3G pitch – I think they’re really good. Everyone has their own opinions on the surface, but it works well for us.”