Tranmere Rovers
Match Preview: Cheltenham Town v Tranmere Rovers
By Louise Formston
September 24 2015
As Tranmere prepare for their away trip to Cheltenham Town on Saturday afternoon, Louise Formston returns with her match preview ahead of the game.....
This weekend, Rovers travel south as they visit Whaddon Road to take on second placed Cheltenham Town with the aim of making it seven games unbeaten. Both teams suffered relegation from League Two last season and are hoping to return to the Football League at the first time of asking.
Form Guide:
Rovers’ form of late has appeared to have stabilised with three away draws, one home draw and two home wins (vs Chester and Aldershot). It’s a form that has seen them rise to just one point away from the playoffs. However, despite the two wins, Rovers are continuing to concede goals, at an average of just over a goal a game (seven goals in the last six games). Whilst it’s not resulted in the worst goal difference in the world, its still not great and the three goals scored (by three different players) on Tuesday definitely went some way to rectifying that.
Cheltenham have had an impressive start to the season, losing just one game (against Altrincham) and drawing only two (to Chester and Forest Green). Tuesday’s derby against Forest Green saw Cheltenham go ahead twice before FGR fought back to take a point. Cheltenham currently have the best goal difference in the League, thanks to a pretty solid defence.
Previous Meetings:
The teams met last season, with Cheltenham wining both games and scoring five in the process. Prior to that, Cheltenham visited Prenton Park in 2011 in the FA Cup and secured a 1-0 win thanks to a Daryl Duffy penalty. Going back even earlier, the teams met on and off throughout the early 2000s with Cheltenham coming out better. They have six wins to Rovers’ three. Perhaps more interestingly, Tranmere have yet to win at Whaddon Road in all their visits there.
Injuries and Suspensions:
Saturday will be seven days on from Hogan’s head injury at Grimsby, and according to FA rules providing he appears fit and passes the brain scans players apparently have to have every 48 hours following concussion he could in theory return to the side. Holness missed out on Tuesday’s game due to a calf injury whilst Mekki recovered from his knock against Grimsby and completed 90 minutes on Tuesday night, scoring a goal in the process. Late on during Tuesday’s game Dawson was on the wrong end of a heavy challenge and was subbed off but will hopefully return on Saturday.
Cheltenham have no new injury worries ahead of Saturday’s game, with Johnson naming the same eleven on Tuesday night as he did on the previous Saturday, making it likely he’ll go with minimal changes this weekend.
The Opposition Dugout:
Gary Johnson was appointed as manager of Cheltenham in March as the club sat two points away from safety in League Two. Johnson failed to save Cheltenham and they were relegated with Tranmere in May. Despite this, Cheltenham renewed Johnson’s contract and he’s set to be there until the end of next season. This season, Johnson has enjoyed a lot more success with Cheltenham second in the table.
Prior to his time with Cheltenham, Johnson managed Yeovil saving them from relegation in his first season before taking them to the League One playoff final, breaking the League One record for consecutive wins in the process and eventually into the Championship where they remained for one season. Following their relegation to League One, Johnson struggled to find form and he was eventually sacked as manager of Yeovil in February 2015.
Other teams managed by Johnson include Northampton, Bristol City and the national team of Latvia. His son Lee is currently Barnsley manager.
One To Watch:
Daniel Wright (31) - Forward (English)
Daniel Wright signed for Cheltenham in the summer after turning down a new deal at Kidderminster. The number 9 is already Cheltenham’s top scorer with five goals this season, the latest coming last Saturday against Woking. Before his time at Cheltenham, Wright scored four in fifteen for Kidderminster. He’s worked his way around the non-league circuit, playing for Gateshead, Forest Green, Wrexham and Cambridge United during his career.
Closely following Wright in the top scorer table is Amari Morgan-Smith with four goals this season including one against Forest Green. Morgan-Smith is another who has played his career mostly in the non-league world racking up appearances for Kidderminster, Macclesfield and Luton.
Former Rovers’ players Eliot Richards and James Rowe both signed for Cheltenham in the last year after being released by Micky Adams. Following a battle with cancer over the last few months, Richards has been given the all clear earlier this month and is hopeful of a return to the pitch sooner rather than later with Christmas his current target. R owe left Tranmere at the start of the year after falling out of favour with manager of the time Micky Adams (possibly one of Adams’ biggest mistakes in my eyes but that’s another story) and has gone on to make four appearances from the bench so far this season.
Around the League:
Dover vs Woking: This game is a Friday night 7:45pm kick off. Woking’s form has been solid this season but has stalled of late and they are currently on equal points with Rovers. They take on mid-table Dover in their quest to reach the play offs.
Bromley vs Chester: Bromley are Rovers’ next opponents (3rd October, 3pm) and are also on twenty points with Tranmere. Since their 2-0 defeat to Rovers’ Chester have struggled to maintain some form and have since dropped down the table.
Forest Green vs Gateshead: After their fantastic start to the season, FGR have hit a slight bump in the road and have failed to win in their last three games. Another loss for them and a win for Cheltenham could see them lose their top spot.
My Starting XI:
Davies
Ihiekwe Hogan Sutton Hill
Dawson Jennings Harris Mekki
Norwood Mangan
I am usually not one for changing a team that’s doing well but as well as Maynard did at right back on Tuesday, with Hogan fit he needs to return to the side with Mike back at RB (although I’m not 100% happy with that either). Thankfully Blissett’s loan hasn’t been renewed so Mangan should start on Saturday. With both Norwood and Mangan on the pitch we played along the floor and what a surprise - we scored two and controlled the game. Mekki was poor first half on Tuesday (who wasn’t?) but more than made up for it second half so can retain his place.
If we can play for at least seventy minutes the way we played the second half on Tuesday, I’m confident we can come away with the three points. Start on the back foot and we could be two or three down before we know it.
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24/09/2015 19:16
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