Swindon Town striker Simon Cox is hoping to finally reach a significant goalscoring landmark this afternoon and believes that securing it will go some way towards proving that former club Reading were wrong to sell him, writes James McNamara.

Cox has been stuck on 19 goals for the past four games – a barren run by his standards – but is hoping to notch No 20 of the campaign when MK Dons arrive at the County Ground this afternoon.

It would prove a signifricant milestone for the prolific marksman, who is targeting a seasonal haul of 25, to cap what has so far been an impressive first full season since arriving from Reading in a £250,000 deal just over 12 months ago.

Cox has since emerged as one of the most talked-about strikers in League One – even being tipped for the top by Arsenal legend Ian Wright – making Reading's decision to off-load the frontman appear a little hasty.

And the Town marksman admits that a determination to prove his former employers wrong has played a significant part in the individual successes he has enjoyed this season.

Cox said: "It would mean a great deal to me personally to get to 20 goals. One of the factors in Reading's decision to sell me was down to whether or not I scored enough goals.

"It was difficult to make my mark there because I never had one settled position and was swapped between being an attacking midfielder and striker.

I believe I am trying to prove a few people at Reading wrong and to get 20 goals in my first season here would go someway towards doing that.

"I have gone four games without scoring but it is something I try not to let bother me. Everything is about getting points for the team at the moment and it doesn't matter who gets the goals."

Town remain rooted in relegation trouble following Tuesday night's disappointing draw with rock-bottom Cheltenham at the County Ground, and manager Danny Wilson presided over a 60-minute lock-in with his players afterwards where there was a frank exchange of views.

Wilson explained that it was a conversation that 'needed to be had' with Town's precarious league position showing no signs of improvement with games fast running out.

"I can tell you everybody was very disappointed with how the game went against Cheltenham," Cox added.

"You can look at it as one further point away from relegation but we really felt it was two dropped.

"We expected to win that game and now we need to stand up and be counted."

Wilson has called for a positive response to his dressing room dressing down against an MK Dons side who have collected more than half of their 62 points on the road.

"The manager has set us a target of seven wins from our remaining 13 games to see us safe and those victories have to start coming quickly," said Cox.

"We need to win games and it doesn't really matter how we achieve it. Pretty football is not a priority when you are sitting just one point outside the bottom four."

Town could find themselves below the safety cut-off point tonight, however, with other teams in the relegation zone facing off against each other, and Cox added: "We need to climb away from the bottom of the table quickly.

"We don't want to be going into the final five games of the season still in the same position and desperate for points to get out of it."

Town will be without midfielder Lee Peacock, who has ruled himself out for the rest of the season to have an operation on a back injury, and Patrick Kanyuka (groin).

Swindon (from): Brezovan, P Smith, J Smith, Ifil, Greer, Vincent, Jean-Francois, Amankwaah, McNamee, Timlin, Allen, Nalis, Robson-Kanu, Marshall, Cox, Paynter, Razak.