Two teams sitting just outside of the League Two playoff positions will meet on Saturday at Blundell Park when Grimsby Town welcome Swindon Town.

Both were in Football League Trophy action midweek, but they head into this match with contrasting form as the visitors were defeated while the Mariners picked up a victory.

Match preview

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Grimsby Town have only lost a single game so far in the league this season, and head into Saturday's encounter with plenty of confidence because of that.

The Mariners are just one point behind the playoff positions right now, and a big reason for that is how many draws they have picked up.

Out of their opening eight fixtures, Grimsby have shared the points in three of them, but that was not the case in their previous two outings in all competitions.

Paul Hurst's men were able to defeat Colchester United by a goal to nil last weekend, and they followed that up with another victory during the midweek Football League Trophy encounter.

Grimsby beat Mansfield Town with goals from Otis Khan and Danilo Orsi, with the Mariners keeping yet another clean sheet to showcase their defensive qualities.

The visitors were not able to pick up a victory in their midweek performance in the same competition as they were heavily defeated by Plymouth Argyle.

The Pilgrims were comfortably three goals up before Swindon Town's Rushian Hepburn-Murphy was able to score a consolation goal in the 91st minute.

Despite that result, the Robins have not been beaten in the league since the opening match of the season against Harrogate Town, building plenty of momentum behind them.

The positive performances have allowed Swindon to climb the table, and a victory this weekend would not only put them above their opponents, but it could push them into the playoffs if other results go their way.

However, the Robins will need to see an improvement in their away form as they have only managed to win one of their five games so far.

Team News

Khan made an impressive debut for Grimsby Town in midweek by finding the back of the net, and after that performance, he could find himself another place in the starting XI.

There will be plenty of changes from the players that featured in the Football League Trophy encounter though, as Hurst opted to make eight changes in that fixture.

After resting plenty of his first-team members there will no doubt be a lot of reshuffling heading into Saturday's match.

After marking his first appearance for Swindon Town with a goal from the bench, Hepburn-Murphy could end up being used from the first whistle this time around.

Morgan Roberts also got the chance to make his debut for the Robins against Plymouth Argyle as one of seven changes that had been made to the team in midweek.

Grimsby Town possible starting lineup:
Crocombe; Efete, Waterfall, Smith, Driscoll-Glennon; Khan, Hunt, Holohan, Clifton; Taylor, Orsi

Swindon Town possible starting lineup:
Brynn; Hutton, Clayton, Brennan, Devine; Gladwin, Reed, Darcy; Hepburn-Murphy, Williams, Wakeling

We say: Grimsby Town 1-1 Swindon Town

So far Grimsby Town have been unable to win a single league match at home, but equally, they have not been beaten yet either.

While both teams will be hoping to take three points to push into a playoff position, they could end up cancelling each other out instead.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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