SWINDON Town go into the play-offs against Sheffield United as the underdogs according to boss Mark Cooper with the South Yorkshire side’s pedigree in knock-out competitions putting them firmly in the favourite’s seats.

Nigel Clough’s side were confirmed as Town’s opponents for the play-off semi-finals yesterday after their 1-1 draw at home to Chesterfield.

The first leg will be at Bramall Lane and having made the semi-final of the Capital One Cup this season as well as the semi-final of the FA Cup last season, falling to Hull, Cooper is fully aware of their skills in knock-out football.

“We are the underdogs aren’t we? I am not trying to be clever,” he told the local media after Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Leyton Orient.

“We’ve had two good games against them this year and they renowned for their cup exploits and I am sure everybody will be tipping Sheffield United to beat us because of their record in knock-out competitions.

“We’ll go up there quietly confident and we’ll be looking for a good performance.”

Preston are the other team to fall into the play-off picture after MK Dons leap-frogged them into the the automatic positions on the final day of the season.

However Cooper is not interested about them at this stage as he works on getting the team ready for Thursday, which includes nursing a few players, like Harry Toffolo and Wes Foderingham back from injury.

“I am sure we lured Preston into a false sense of security last week and softened them up and all that jumping up and down and screaming and shouting about my team selection last week has obviously done them a favour hasn’t it?,” replied Cooper when asked about the fate of his League One rivals.

“I am not worried about Preston or Chesterfield. We have Sheffield United first and we have to deal with that and we know it is going to be a really hostile atmosphere at Bramall Lane with 25,000 people there screaming and shouting.

“We’ve been working every day on the team that we think, obviously it has been a bit difficult because we are missing three or four of the players, but in terms of the shape we want to utilise in that game we’ve done a lot of work.

“I am hopeful they will all be fit but there are one or two that are touch wood.”