SAINTS will need to end their Swindon hoodoo this weekend in order to re-ignite their automatic promotion hopes.

Tuesday’s 0-0 draw at Hartlepool means Nigel Adkins’ team now trail League One leaders Brighton by ten points.

It looks increasingly likely that Saints, along with about six others, are now competing for just one automatic position.

Cherries currently occupy that coveted slot, but everyone down to seventh-placed Charlton will harbour ambitions of stealing it from them.

Despite the disappointing result at Victoria Park, Saints remain in a decent position to do just that.

Although they trail Cherries by six points, they hold three games in hand over Lee Bradbury’s team.

And they have also played two games less than Huddersfield and Peterborough, the other sides above them.

With struggling Swindon coming to men have a good chance to strike a significant blow in the promotion race.

The only problem is that the Robins happen to be Saints’ bogey side.

Since being relegated to the third tier, they have faced Danny Wilson’s men four times – and lost them all.

To make matters even worse, Saints have failed to score in all those games.

But Nigel Adkins will believe they have a great chance of finally breaking that miserable run.

Swindon will arrive at St Mary’s as one of the most outof- form teams in the top five divisions.

Wilson’s side have not won in 11 matches, with only Sheffield United and Preston possessing worse records of the top 116 teams in England and Wales.

They have also lost their last five away from home.

That has seen them slump to their current position of 20th – only kept out of the relegation zone by virtue of Plymouth’s ten-point deduction.

Swindon are also now without Saints’ chief tormentor, Charlie Austin, after the striker joined Championship outfit Burnley last month.

The former Wessex League player scored in three of the last four meetings between the clubs – with two of those efforts resulting in a pair of 1- 0 wins.

Since his departure from the County Ground, Swindon have claimed just two points from six games.

The Robins have already visited St Mary’s once this season – for a Johnstone’s Paint Trophy first round game.

A double from ex-Saints forward Vincent Pericard, as well as an Austin strike, saw Swindon win 3-0.

The game was the first one after Alan Pardew was sacked as manager at St Mary’s at the end of August.

Saints’ last league win over Swindon came in August 1993, when they triumphed 5-1 at The Dell in the Premier League.