NOTHING less than three points against local rivals Bristol Rovers will do tomorrow after Paolo Di Canio set his Swindon side a target of achieving promotion by Easter Monday.

Town return to League Two action following their Johnstone’s Paint Trophy defeat to Chesterfield on Sunday, looking to further strengthen their hold on first place.

A win for Torquay last Saturday moved Martin Ling‘s side to within four points of the Robins but with four games in the next 11 days, this is a crucial period in Town’s bid for promotion.

Swindon face Northampton at the County Ground on Easter Monday and a win could see them up. For that to happen, though, the unlikely scenario of Town winning their next four games and both Crawley and Shrewsbury losing theirs would need to occur.

Nevertheless, Di Canio believes it is a target Swindon should aim to achieve.

“I told my players I want to go up on Easter Monday,” he said.

“If we win all four games coming up we will go up. It is not mathematical, but we would be very close.

“The other teams around us have direct confrontations, so it will be difficult for them.

“If the three teams around us do win, then my prediction would be very bad but let us win four games and probably we will celebrate Easter Monday.”

Di Canio and his players were clearly hurting on Sunday following their unexpected loss to Chesterfield.

Town failed to play the football they are capable of and Di Canio has warned all teams that are still to come to the County Ground that his players will make them ‘pay the price’ for the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy defeat.

“Only with the anger and desire will we win this game,” he added. “Every team we play will pay the price now because we did not win the JPT final.

“That loss has given us so much anger and every team that comes to the County Ground will have to face this. As usual we analysed the game on Tuesday and it was clear that we made many mistakes, but at the end of the day we know it was a special occasion.

“We missed the chance to bring the cup back but as a manager I have to be disappointed for just one hour after the game and think about what we have done until today, which has been a big achievement.

“I am sorry for the fans and my players but I can’t forget that my players did fantastic until today. Now we must do our job and win the league, which would be fantastic for everybody. The cup is done but we must improve for the rest of the season because we need to win games to go up.”

Despite being tipped for promotion at the start of the season, Bristol Rovers have endured a difficult season and look certain to remain in League Two for at least another year.

The Pirates, who are currently 14th in the standings, snatched a share of the spoils when the two sides met at the Memorial Ground back in December.

Town were far from at their best in that game, prompting an angry reaction from Di Canio, but the 43-year-old could not praise highly enough how is players respond to both his comments, and the result.

“It was one of the first games I was worried because it was almost the Christmas period. We had come from some good results but we did not perform well and we switched off at the end,” said Di Canio.

“I was angry but the response of the players was fantastic. But we cannot underestimate them. They lost on Tuesday to Aldershot but before then they had a good run of no defeats in four games.

“They have confidence, it is a local derby and they will travel in numbers to follow the team, but we have much more reason to win.”

Di Canio could opt to rest striker Paul Benson, who has been recovering from a slight neck injury this week, but skipper Paul Caddis will definitely miss out due to his ankle injury.

“Paul Caddis is on the road to recovery. I don’t want to force him to come back quick because I want him to recover carefully and have him ready maybe for the last few games,” said Di Canio.

“We have many other options to play in his position to so we don’t have urgent pressure to recover him.”