MARK Cooper expects Crawley Town’s tails to be up when two teams with 100 per cent records meet at the Broadfield Stadium this weekend.

Crawley, with victories over Barnsley and Ipswich Town under their belts, were tipped in some circles to be relegation candidates this season but they have started the campaign at a canter - much like Swindon Town, who with wins against Scunthorpe United and Luton Town have calmed a lot of the pre-season anxieties of many fans and members of the media around the County Ground.

Therefore, Swindon manager Cooper anticipates a thorough physical examination of his players tomorrow, with one team chasing the possibility of sitting top of the table come 5pm.

Cooper said of Crawley: “They’re very strong, they’re very resolute and they’ve had two good wins themselves so they’ll be very buoyant and they’ll be bang up for it.

“John Gregory’s teams are always up for it and he’ll get them going.

“I’m sure they’ll be up for it and raring to go, knowing that after three games they could be top of the league as well.

“The thing with John is he’ll have identified a group of characters and young players who he thinks he can mould and they’ll work their socks off.

“They’ve got (Izale) McLeod up front who can score goals.

“I saw the Barnsley game. Obviously Barnsley had a man sent off, which would have given them a bit of impetus, but it’s still a fantastic result.

“And then to beat any Championship team in the cup takes some doing.

“Their tails will be up and it will be a real stern test for us.

Cooper is well aware of the threat posed by Crawley frontman Izale McLeod, the former Barnet and MK Dons striker, who has scored both of his team’s goals in their two 1-0 wins so far this term.

“He’s a good goalscorer,” said Cooper.

“If you leave him for a minute you can find the ball in the back of the net very quickly.

“He’s scored goals wherever he’s been and we know he’s a big threat.”