Swindon Town take on Port Vale in an attempt to abate some ghosts from the past and also to breathe new life into the present.

864 days after the fateful night in the playoffs when one of the most enthralling seasons this century came to an end, Swindon return to Vale Park in a very different position.

Like any modern remake of a classic, only a few fringe characters were up to come back, Harrison Minturn and Anton Dworzak are the only current players to have been involved in any capacity that season, with Steve Mildenhall, Steve Hooper, and Jonah Isaacs the only staff members with memories of the heartache and physical ache once the players finally made it through the melee on the pitch.

But it isn’t just the players that are different, Town won six straight to make it to that point in what felt like destiny in Clem Morfuni’s first season as owner, Mark Kennedy will now lead a team that has won one of the last 12 dating back to the end of last season.

The head coach has remained firm that things are headed in the right direction but the spiritual cleansing of the past combined with bringing this season from a spreadsheet to the pitch could be huge for finding life for the first time since the last visit to this ground.

Vale have been on their journey since too with a Wembley promotion and subsequent relegation, so what can Town expect?

Jonny Hancock of the Ale and the Vale Podcast said: “It has been a decent start for us so far, although we have three points less than I would have liked.

“This season was going to go one of two ways, with 16 players coming in it would either click straight away or take a little while and the last three games have shown glimpses of that starting to happen.”

Mark Kennedy was very complimentary about the talent The Valiants would have available to them.

He said: “They have really good individuals, Darren has an outstanding record as a head coach and I think at the end of the season if you finish above Port Vale then you have a great chance of getting promoted.

“People like Jayden Stockley up front, he is a fabulous player, why he is in League Two I don’t know but he has had an outstanding career and is still a really good player.

“I could go through them all, really, so we will have to be at our best but we will be going there to win.”

Kennedy looks set to be without Ollie Clarke, Grant Hall, and Ryan Delaney once again this week as they have not yet returned to full training although are in a good place, along with Harry Smith serving the third game of his suspension.

Town have drawn each away game before playing Port Vale on the edge of the playoffs having been one of the league’s entertainers. Turning one point into three might not mean more for many reasons all season.