#league2

Newport County played their final pre-season game in preparation for their 2023/24 League Two campaign yesterday, a game at Rodney Parade versus League One side Cheltenham Town.   The game ended in a draw, with both teams scoring in a competitive match. As expected, the game’s primary purpose would have been fitness, but aside from that, what did we learn from the 1-1 draw? Higher Defensive…

Oldham miss a chance to make a statement in the play off race, after drawing 0-0 to Cheltenham at the Jonny Rocks Stadium.

This draw for Cheltenham makes it nine unbeaten at home for the Robins. Whilst a point for Oldham does them no good in the race for a playoff place in League two.

The Robins remain in 16th place with 54 points, whilst the Latics remain in 13th place with 59 points.

Both teams played out an even first half, with Luke Varney being the Robins brightest player. And Oladapo Afolayan and Jose Baxter looking the Latics most dangerous players in the first half.

Cheltenham thought they had taken a first half lead, but had a goal disallowed in the 38th minute, after Charlie Raglan powered in a header from a corner. However, the referee had adjudged the defender to foul an Oldham player.

Cheltenham come into this game looking to make it 9 unbeaten at home in the league.

The Robins last home defeat came on the 12th January, when they fell to a 3-1 defeat to Tranmere Rovers.

The side from Gloucestershire picked up an impressive point on the road in their last game, when they drew 1-1 with top of the league and promoted Lincoln City last Saturday.

Their opponents Oldham Athletic are looking to make it five unbeaten in the league.

The Latics drew 2-2 at home last weekend against Swindon Town.

This impressive run of form, since the surprising Paul Scholes saga has led to the Latics moving up to 13th in the table.

An away win tomorrow could take them into the top half of the League 2 table.

Recent form in League

Cheltenham Town- L/W/W/D/D

Oldham Athletic- L/W/W/W/D

Team News

Cheltenham

Luke Varney is in line to make a return to the line up tomorrow after missing Lincoln away due to a concussion protocol.

Alex Addai, Tyrone Barnett and Nigel Atangana are all out with long term injuries.

But Alex Addai is close to being considered.

Oldham Athletic 

Zak Dearnley is out of this game, despite coming back to training this week. Seems like this game has come too early for the forward.

The manager also revealed in his press conference that a few players had knocks, but didn’t want to give away any names until he knew for definite, so do expect changes to their line up tomorrow.

Predicted starting elevens 

Cheltenham’s predicted starting XI (3-5-2)- Flinders; Boyle, Tozer, Raglan; Hussey, Tillson, Dwson, Thomas, Long; Waters, Varney.

Oldham’s predicted starting XI (4-4-2)- Iversen; Hamer, Clarke, Edmundson, Iacovitti; Branger, Missilou, Maouche, Nepomuceno; Baxter, Lang.

Manager Comments

Cheltenham Manager: Michael Duff (Quotes Credit- Official Cheltenham Town website- www.ctfc.com)

"There are two home games left and we want to keep this home record going," he said.

"We want to deliver another good performance. There does seem to be a feel good factor at the minute, quite rightly so, because the players have delivered good performances and the fans have bought into that as well.

"Pete has done a good job. They obviously had the high profile of Paul Scholes coming in and all the press that with it - it lasted a month - and Pete had them on a good run before that, a good cup run.

"Paul Scholes came in, left, and Pete has taken over again and I think they've lost one in seven so they're on another good run. He's got them going."

Following the launch of the club's 2019/20 season tickets today, Duff added:

"There's a definite buzz around the ground on home games at the minute off the back of a really good unbeaten home record. We'll be looking to add to that.

"Off the back of the season tickets getting cut, the kids and the free shirts with their season ticket, I think the club have done all they can, the team are doing all they can, and hopefully the supporters buy into it as well because we want to keep that momentum going."

Oldham Manager: Pete Wild

"All the preparation bumps forward a day, so we've had a good week, the lads are raring to go again and we're looking forward to what is going to be a really exciting but tough Easter weekend."

He added: "This time being in the job a little bit longer we've had time to plan and time to prepare so we feel like we're ready for the tests ahead.

"We can now manage our days and manage our schedule a little bit better having had that time to come into it."

Despite their league standing, Wild knows The Robins will be a difficult game against a team who have been in excellent form over the last ten games.

"You're going to see a completely different side that you saw at Boundary Park earlier in the season.

"Fair play to Michael [Duff] he's got them playing, he's got this 3-5-2 system that is really heavily based on possession based football and getting the ball wide, so I think you're going to see a completely different game.

"And what a run they've been on by the way. A fantastic run they've got themselves into, so they're a really good threat and probably if the season was a couple of months back you'd say Cheltenham would be bumping themselves into the top-half.

"So I'm really looking forward to playing them because they give us something different to combat, but what an exciting fixture, I've enjoyed doing my homework on them and watching their games."

Whilst he admires Cheltenham, Wild knows he wants his side to get back to its best and overcome the struggles they faced against Swindon last weekend.

"Structurally I think we got it a little bit wrong and we spoke about it on Monday with the lads and we showed them some clips against Swindon and showed them some clips of Tranmere and how that looked differently structurally.

"So we've addressed that now and looked at their threats on the training pitch and looked at how we're going to combat that. So hopefully we'll get it a little bit structurally better on Friday and we can then get back to being this team that's on the front-foot."

With a quick turnaround after Friday, the Latics Head Coach is focused on one task at a time.

"It's game by game for us. We're going to look at what we need to do for Friday and then on the bus back on Friday it'll be a case of 'right what are we going to do Monday'. I don't want to get ahead of ourselves."

Head to Head record 

These two sides have met 13 times over the years in all competitions, with both teams winning the same amount of games against eachother. Cheltenham have beaten the Latics four times in all competitions. There have been five draws between these two sides over the years. And Oldham have beaten the Robins four times in all competitions over the years.

However, just comparing league head to head record- Oldham do better in that category. Oldham have beaten the Robins four times in league competitions. There have four draws between these two sides in league competitions over the years. And Cheltenham have only beaten the Latics one time in league competitions over the years.

Most of Cheltenham’s wins against Oldham have came in the FA Cup.

The last meeting between these two sides came earlier this season in League two, when Oldham picked up a comfortable 2-0 win over Cheltenham at the end of October.

Betting Odds/Match Predictions 

Sky Bet have made Cheltenham slight favourites to pick up the three points from this encounter, with a win for the Robins being priced at 6/4. A draw between these two sides is being priced at 9/4. And an Oldham win which would keep their mini unbeaten run in the league going is being priced at 13/8.

Jon Palmer’s (Sport Reporter for Gloucestershire Live) prediction for this game is a 2-1 Cheltenham win.

My Prediction for this game is a 3-2 Cheltenham win. Hoping for a high scoring and entertaining match tomorrow.

Comment down below your score predictions for this game tomorrow in League Two. Both teams have certain unbeaten records that they want to hold on to. But whose mini record will go tomorrow? Cheltenham’s impressive home form? Or Oldham’s mini resurgence?

                                  (Photo Source- Yeovil Town)

As the Robins earned a vital 3 points last night, courtesy of Varney in this 6 pointer at the bottom end of the table in League 2. I look at the 5 key talking points from this match.

1. Yeovil started the game the better team but lost their discipline and composure as the match went on- Surprisingly, the Glovers came out of the blocks very quickly, and they thought they had taken a 0-1 lead in the game, when Tom James’s free kick flew past Flinders. However, the referee Tim Robinson spotted a foul as the free kick was whipped in from the right-hand side. The side from Somerset continued to create chances early on with Jake Gray firing his effort just wide of the Cheltenham goal. But the real turning point of the game came in the 21st minute, when Tom James lunged at Alex Addai recklessly, and that led to the referee brandishing the red card for arguably the most dangerous Yeovil player. However, it got worse for Yeovil, as their manager Darren Way got sent off for showing his displeasure towards the referee for sending off James.

Surprisingly even with the red card, they were still well in the game, and deserved to go into the break at 0-0.

However, as the second half progressed, the visitors defence began to look vulnerable, and Varney made them pay, midway through the second half to give the Robins the lead. After that goal, Yeovil found it very hard to get back in the game, and therefore the game drifted in the second half, and as a result ended as a 1-0 win to Cheltenham.

              (Photo Credit- @twmpix, via @JonPalmerSport)

2. 5 disallowed goals in the game- This point was probably the most bizarre part of the game. Shockingly, there were 4 offside goals in the entire game. And there was also a disallowed goal for a foul. With just solely offside/disallowed goals, Yeovil would have won that game 3-2. If we combine the goals that stood to the offside/disallowed goals, then the game would have ended in a 3-3 draw.

However, Yeovil came away with a 1-0 loss… Sums up Yeovil’s fortunes in League 2 so far this season.

                (Photo Credit- @twmpix, via @JonPalmerSport)

3.  Alex Addai suffering a hamstring injury in the most unfortunate way! - Addai looked Cheltenham’s brightest player in the early stages in the first half. A period in the game where Yeovil were the much brighter team. However, Addai’s afternoon ended 38th minute, when his attempted trickery failed to pay off, as he slipped over and tweaked his hamstring as a result. The only positive from the injury was that it allowed Rakish Bingham to make his debut for the Robins. However, the Robins will hope that Addai’s injury isn’t too serious, as he has been a very bright player for Cheltenham recently.

                     (Photo Credit- Cheltenham Town FC)

 4. Varney produced the moment of magic to help the Robins earn a vital 3 points- At 36 years of age, Luke Varney has proven that he still has it in his locker to be the difference maker in games. Prior to his vital goal, he also scored a great flick esque goal in the first half, however that was 1 of 5 goals ruled offside today (mentioned above).

 The Veteran’s strikers evening didn’t end there though, as in the 59th minute he produced a superb Volley which looped in into the Yeovil goal, which was the only goal in this massive six pointer game at the bottom of the League. As a result of that goal, Varney deservedly got man of the match.

 That goal was Varney’s 9th of the season, and he has been the main reason that Cheltenham are starting to pull away from the relegation zones. Without him, Cheltenham Town would be in deep trouble.

                   (Photo Credit- @twmpix, via @JonPalmerSport)

5. Cheltenham win moves them closer to safety- This game was labelled as a six-pointer game and could have been seen to be more important to Yeovil than Cheltenham, as they are closer to the relegation zones compared to Yeovil.

The result leaves Cheltenham 18th position, but they now move 8 points away from the relegation zones, with a game in hand on Macclesfield. Whereas, Yeovil remain in 21st place in the table, and are still only 3 points away from the relegation zones. But luckily for them, they have a game in hand on Macclesfield.

In terms of Cheltenham, being 8 points clear from the relegation zones puts less pressure on the Robins, when they travel to Colchester. Could they pull out a surprising result considering that no one would expect them to get anything in Essex? 

The manager Michael Duff admitted that his side didn’t play too well but insists that the 3 points were important. His side did have to weather a storm of Yeovil pressure in the first half, but the sending off allowed Cheltenham to press home their advantage

.For Yeovil, they now have a crunch match at home to Grimsby this Saturday. After tonight’s loss, that game is now must win.