SWINDON Town head coach Ben Garner believes Saturday’s League Two fixture with Oldham Athletic is a crucial game in his team’s season.

A victory would be important for Town’s play-off aspirations, full stop, but the Town boss thinks that if a win can be achieved with a skeleton squad at his disposal then the only way is up in more ways than one.

Hoping to bounce back after a disappointing 3-1 defeat to Exeter City on Tuesday night, Garner will have the same squad available to him for the arrival of the Latics.

He said: “I think this is a huge game for us in our season.

"If we can win on Saturday with the lowest number of players available that we’ve had all season, we’ve then got Harry McKirdy coming back on Tuesday and hopefully we’ll have one or two more returning in the coming weeks. I’d like to think we’ll only get stronger.

“I’d love to make the play-offs as a minimum, just for the effort that’s gone in and because of what we’ve overcome this season. But the only way to do that is by performing on the pitch.

“And the automatics are still there – if we can get on a run with back-to-back wins, anything can happen and we’re still positive about that.

“If we make the play-offs, over two legs I think we can beat anyone. If we can make it to Wembley on that pitch, we can certainly beat anyone.

“We’ve got nothing to lose, we’ve got everything to gain, so we’ll attack these remaining games, we’ll stay positive as a group, and hopefully along the way we’ll enjoy it as well.”

With the return of former boss John Sheridan to the County Ground, a free-ticket offer for season-ticket holders, and a blue-light game for fans in frontline healthcare services expected to draw in a near-capacity crowd on Saturday, Town could be roared on by over 11,000 home fans.

Garner says fans are entitled to react to Sheridan however they might want, and any kind of atmosphere will only encourage and not inhibit his players.

He said: “We’ve been pretty good at just playing the game and not the occasion this year. We focus on how we set out to play and how we think is best to win the game.

“But any atmosphere can generate energy on the pitch and can help us. We want the supporters to be behind us, but likewise we have to provide that on the pitch.

“The better we play, the more the fans will enjoy the game and generate more noise – it’s always a two-way street.”