MAGPIES boss Shaun Derry is not reading too much into Swindon Town’s recent form as he prepares to bring his side to Wiltshire.

County are hardly on a hot streak themselves. They have lost three of their last four and the fixture has the potential to be a war of attrition, with the result more important that the performance.

Town’s recent home record does provide encouragement for sides in League One’s lower reaches, especially after Gillingham’s victory on Tuesday night.

However Derry knows that were his side to win on Saturday it would be considered an upset and was not prepared to go as far as predicting a win, hoping instead just to give Mark Cooper’s side a tough afternoon.

“Of all the teams that have gone down to the County Ground in recent weeks, there are teams who will have gone there thinking anything they bring back with them is a bonus,” he said.

“But then they have actually gone down there and picked up a result.

“So we’ll go there with a game plan and hope we can cause an upset.

“People say it might be a good time to go there but they’ve just lost 3-0 at home so I know Mark (Cooper) will want a reaction.

“I just want Swindon to realise, come full-time, that they have been in a game.”

Despite his opponent’s poor results Derry has no doubts Swindon are quality side and the County boss is still billing his men as the underdogs for the clash at the County Ground.

“Even despite those losses, I still think they are in that group of teams who are detached from the rest in terms of quality and they’ll be hurting at losing those four games.

“Anybody who can sustain being at the top of the table for 30-31 games has to be considered one of the better teams.”