DAVID Flitcroft says Swindon Town will face a Wycombe Wanderers side built in boss Gareth Ainsworth’s own image when the two sides go head to head tonight.

Wanderers boast the longest current unbeaten streak in League Two running at six matches, only relinquishing maximum points from that spell in a 1-1 draw away at Exeter City at the weekend.

That has carried Wycombe up to third in the table, although Town are only two places and two points adrift of the Chairboys following Saturday’s 1-0 win at home to Mansfield Town.

Flitcroft and Ainsworth are former team-mates, having played alongside each other as midfielders at Preston North End in the early 1990s, and the Town boss says all the tough attributes his former colleague displayed on the pitch and now instilled by Ainsworth within his teams.

“Gareth has been building his brand and his teams certainly reflect his personality,” said Flitcroft.

“I played with Gareth at Preston and I have never seen a player as courageous and make so many tackles and he carries that into management. He is a brave manager and his teams reflect everything that he stands for, so I have got the ultimate respect for Gareth and his team.

“We will go there with a gameplan to try to commit to being competitive and really upsetting the opposition.”

Tonight’s game is the third meeting between the two teams this season, although it is the first at Adams Park after Town edged to 1-0 victories at the Energy Check County Ground in both the league and Checkatrade Trophy earlier in the campaign.

Flitcroft has no doubt that another nip-and-tuck affair will unfold this evening as Wycombe represent one the most well-equipped outfits in the fourth tier.

“You look at what Gareth has built over a length of time and he has got real men in his team. There are no projects, there are no young players, it’s a case of real men to do men’s jobs,” said Flitcroft.

“I keep saying it but League Two is a man’s world and that is what Gareth has been able to build.

“I think that Luton have tried to go with youth and projects over a couple of years but now they have just got absolute men in with experience to try to get out of this league. Notts County have done the same thing.

“Gareth has really homed in on that and that is why it is difficult when you go to Wycombe with what he has created. But we have been to those places all season and every crossroads we have had, we have come through it.”