Dan the Fan: Paolo Di Canio will build on his success at Swindon

Out of form Ronan Murray managed to keep his place in the side and rewarded manager Paolo Di Canio with a goal and an improved performance, which is encouraging to see, as he’ll be key as our season comes to an end.

It was also great to see Oliver Risser score for Town after his nightmare at Wembley.

You could see that relief and frustration pour out of him as he punched the ground in his goal celebration; hopefully he can put that issue behind him and become an even more important member of the first team.

That 2-0 win now puts Town five points clear at the top of the table, and eight points inside the automatic promotion places, with a game in hand over four of our promotion rivals.

It’s a fantastic position to be in and the team for most of this season has been top class home and away, and of course a lot of credit has to go to il direttore Paolo Di Canio.

If you could cast your mind back with me to last May to when Paolo Di Canio was appointed nobody knew how this season was going to turn out.

Swindon Town took a risk with Paolo Di Canio, the board of directors have admitted that openly since, and eleven months later the club are now benefiting, in the fans eyes the guy is already a cult hero.

But now nearly a year later the obvious question has started to arise with Town fans, opposition fans and even the national media questioning ‘when will Di Canio move on?’ Of course we all knew this would happen at some stage, but with West Ham underachieving in the Championship could Di Canio seriously move to Upton Park after just one season as a football manager?

I personally don’t think he will leave this summer even if Sam Allardyce is sacked for not taking the Hammers straight back to the Premier League.

I’m sure some fans will call me naïve for this view but I genially think he has developed a real passion for Swindon Town and the project he has laid out in front of him.

Swindon fans know the set-up at the club is one of a Championship club, to any opposition fans reading this that’s not me being unrealistic that’s the way the club is run.

Paolo has got a great chance at Swindon to take a club back to where it belongs, and he knows it.

Also on Monday Karen Brady said to Radio 5 Live “Yes he (Allardyce) will still be in charge next season – definitely"

"[Chairman] David Sullivan wanted Sam - they have a very good relationship"

I understand that Swindon fans might find it difficult to take any words from a Brady seriously but hopefully Karen Brady and the rest of the West Ham board will stay true to their statement.

So the club won’t have to deal with any unwanted media attention or potential upheaval during the summer.

With the season coming to an end the players fitness will be fully tested over the next month starting with Town making the longest away trip of the season to mid-table side Morecambe at the Globe Arena.

With Morecambe being a non-league side for the large majority of the clubs 92 year history, this is the first time Town have travelled the 211 miles to take on the Shrimps in any competition.

As Town started the season struggling at the wrong end of the table Morecambe stormed to the top of League Two table in early September, beating Crawley 6-0 along the way.

But after overachieving early on the club have struggled to maintain that level of performance and now find themselves 12th in League Two and eleven points from that coveted playoff spot.

Like every fixture in League Two you can’t take any result for granted and Town will need to keep key player midfielder Kevin Ellison quiet on the pitch and the Shrimps have one of the best keepers in the division in Barry Roche.

But knowing that two wins over Easter will all but guaranteed Swindon's promotion should be enough incentive for Town to make our first trip to Morecambe a happy one for the loyal Town fans that will make the 422 mile round trip.

Don't forget you can follow me on Twitter @danjohnson_stfc

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