Two highflying npower League 2 teams go head-to-head on Saturday as Fleetwood Town visit Cheltenham Town.
Two highflying npower League 2 teams go head-to-head on Saturday as Fleetwood Town visit Cheltenham Town.
Third spot Fleetwood take consecutive wins to Whaddon Road following a midweek victory at York City. The Cod Army returned to winning ways with a home win over Barnet last weekend.
Cheltenham moved up to fifth place following a narrow win at Bristol Rovers on Tuesday and will look to continue their four-game unbeaten run.
Micky Mellon is likely to be without left-back Dean Howell who turned an ankle at Bootham Crescent on Tuesday. Alan Goodall looks set to continue after coming on for Howell for the second half.
“Dean isn’t looking good at the minute. It’s looking likely he not will play but we have a squad who can cope with most eventualities. Alan did very well. He’s a good player and when he came on it was seamless into the back four.”
The Fleetwood boss saw Junior Brown increased his tally to 4 goals at York and former Cheltenham Town striker Steven Gillespie came off the bench to double his total.
“Steven wants to score goals and he did just that with his opportunity on Tuesday. I was really pleased for him.
“I’m delighted with our position after 10 games. That means it’s even more important to keep our focus. Just under a quarter of the season has gone and we have a lot of football still to play. We’ll keep grounded and not get carried away with anything.”
Robins manager Mark Yates hopes to welcome back Shaun Harrad after the on-loan striker missed the win over Bristol Rovers through injury. The Bury frontman is Cheltenham’s leading scorer with 5 goals from 11 games this season
Regardless of their play-off position, Yates believes he must strengthen his squad.
"I'm trying to bring in a loan player as we're a little bit light on numbers," he told BBC Gloucestershire.
"We've got options in attack and I'm looking to take another midfield player, just to add something, someone who can play wide or inside."
Robins is also looking to strengthen off the pitch as well after calling on the Whaddon Road faithful to turn-out in numbers and boost their 2,700 average attendances.
"One thing I need is for the crowds to improve. I need the fans to come and get behind the boys.”
"I'm going to the chairman and asking him 'can I bring this player in to improve us?'
"I think he's worried the expectations are there but we're still only getting 2,500 people for home games."
Town are in action at Highbury next Saturday when Wycombe Wanderers are the visitors. Tickets are available all next week by calling 01253 775080, through the website or visiting the club shop which is open Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm (match day 9am to kick-off at 3pm).