AUSTIN’S POWERS INTACT

THE CRUSHING disappointment of losing a single match, upon which a whole season of toil rests, can be overwhelming.

When a campaign of 46 matches comes down to one 90-minute performance, emotions are amplified.

So it is that Millwall — who comfortably saw off Swindon Town 1-0 in last season's League One play-off — are competing admirably in the Championship, still high on life following their successful big day out at Wembley.

For the Robins, recent times have been tougher.

It was perhaps inevitable that Danny Wilson's men would start the 2010-11 season a little tentatively — not only because of that post play-off hangover, but also because key men who contributed so much to the team's impressive fifth-placed finish last term have now left the County Ground.

The Wiltshire club have lost influential and dynamic on-loan winger Danny Ward, who went back to parent club Bolton before briefly being sent out to Coventry this season for a spell cut short by injury.

The 18-year-old scored nine goals and was a huge influence of the left side of attack last season, while big striker Billy Paynter — who scored three times in a pair of matches against Athletic — contributed a massive 26 in the league, easily his best season in professional football.

Paynter has since moved on to promoted Leeds United in the Championship.

Any team in League One would miss the stellar contributions of those two players.

But one key man to Swindon's hopes of a play-off reprisal remains at the club: Charlie Austin.

Famously plucked from non-league obscurity with Poole Town to hit the headlines last season, Austin has attracted interest from higher up the football ladder, but has so far chosen to stay put with the Robins.

The 21-year-old came to the attention of manager Wilson thanks to his record of bagging 46 goals in as many matches for Poole.

And with 20 goals last term, he boasts a scoring record in professional football of better than one every two matches — the watermark of a highly-effective striker.

Austin has seven in his last eight appearances and a total of 14 this season, and clearly needs to be closely monitored by Athletic's defence at Boundary Park on Saturday.

There has been quite a turnaround in personnel elsewhere at the County Ground since the 2009/10 season.

Michael Rose, a left-back who went on loan to champions Norwich, has signed permanently from Stockport.

Right-back Paul Caddis has signed from Celtic, as has midfielder Simon Ferry, who spent last season on loan with the Robins.

Captain Gordon Greer departed on a free transfer to join Brighton but the experience lost was made up for by the acquisition of David Prutton from Colchester, while striker David Ball — brought in on a six-month loan from Manchester City — has only hit two league goals up to now.

Left winger Matt Ritchie is at Swindon on loan from Portsmouth until January, while Millwall defender Andy Frampton recently had his one-month deal extended.

And former Athletic loan player Alan Sheehan made his temporary move to the County Ground from Leeds permanent in the summer.

Swindon started the campaign slowly and it wasn't until their seventh league fixture that Wilson's side finally produced a victory, seeing off Southampton 1-0 at home.

Things have been up-and-down since then. Their league campaign has been satisfactory, but a 3-2 home defeat at the hands of non-league Crawley Town in Tuesday’s FA Cup second-round tie was a bitter blow for the Wiltshire club.