What a difference a win makes! While Tuesday’s 1-0 victory over Torquay United may not have been a classic, it demonstrated that The Shots do have what it takes in their locker to overcome play off contenders and after draws with Wycombe and Gillingham in recent weeks, the season long promise of “being almost there” may well still ring true.
The Shots enter the match in 15th place in League Two with 42 points from 35 games, while the Cheltenham are just one place higher in 14th with 43 points having played a game less.
Shots Team News
The Shots travel to Gloucestershire in positive mood having gained three valuable points on Tuesday evening and with the 1-0 victory finally putting to bed their winless run, there will be additional confidence ahead of the match that there could be a much brighter end to the season.
With the leagues bottom two sides [Stockport and Barnet] next up for The Shots, picking up points in the coming games would be a timely boost for Holdsworth’s men and will inject some belief back on to the terraces as the season begins to draw to a close.
Speaking to the Premium Shots ahead of the match, Dean Holdsworth said: ”We feel like we’re building something and we would like to go on a run of a few back to back wins. It would be good for the confidence and the players have certainly got the ability to do it.
The Shots will continue without Jack Randall [broken leg] and Alex Rodman [calf] while Jermaine McGlashan could be available having missed Tuesday’s match, but Holdsworth is continuing to monitor his fitness. Damian Spencer has gone out to Lilleshall for some rehabilitation on his leg injury while Reece Connolly [Dorchester Town] remains out on loan.
Shots from: Jamie Young, Mikhael Jaimez-Ruiz, Ben Herd, Simon Grand, Luke Guttridge, Anthony Straker, Darren Jones, Anthony Charles, Ben Harding, Danny Hylton, Manny Panther, Aaron Morris, John Halls, Peter Vincenti, Clayton Fortune, Jermaine McGlashan, Wade Small, Luke Medley, Albert Jarrett, Adam Mekki and Tim Sills.
The Opposition
Having flirting around the play off spaces for a large part of the season, the Robins have found themselves slipping further away in recent months and their current dip in form has seen them pick up just one win in ten – and that came against basement side Stockport County and Robins boss Mark Yates believes that his sides dip in form has not been helped by the state of the pitch at the Abby Business Stadium and insists that his side have been disappointing at home since November.
”We’ve been competitive in most games, home and away and we haven’t been blown away by too many teams. It’s a really fine line. Earlier in the season things were going for us and we were playing some good stuff but we’ve found it difficult to really dominate teams at home," he told the media.
”We’ve got to make sure we continue improving this season and that we get even better next season.
”There are eleven games to go and I want us to pick up as many points as we can. We know we can go on a decent run of winning games, but we’ve got to not know it, we’ve got to show it.
”We want three points Saturday and then we’ll move on to Bury away next week. Every game is tough and you cant say ‘we’ll pick up points there and we’ll settle for a point there’, we set out to take maximum points from every game, we don’t fear anybody and we know there are some topsides in this division but on the whole it’s about who competes on the day, who wants it more, who has a little bit of luck and who has total belief in themselves.
”We are mid-table and that’s probably a fair reflection and we need to make sure we move on and stay at least mid-table.
”Dean Holdsworth has been there [at Aldershot] a few months now so I presume he has had long enough to put his stamp on things, I read a quote the other day saying it was still ‘work in progress’ and that’s right, but I’m concerned about us and that we get back to doing what we do best.”
Martin Riley remains the only absentee from Yates’ side and the player has been recuperating at Lilleshall this week [hamstring] but other than him, all players are reported as being available for selection.
Cheltenham from: Scott Brown, Daniel Lloyd-Weston, Keith Lowe, Danny Andrew, David Bird, Andy Gallinagh, Michael Pook, Joshua Low, Wesley Thomas, Jeff Goulding, Brian Smikle, John Melligan, Kyle Haynes, Theo Lewis, Jake Lee, Frankie Artus, Steve Elliott, Matthew Green, Marlon Pack, Ashley Eastham and Jake Thompson.
- You can visit the official Cheltenham Town website here.
Taking Charge
Kevin Wright will be taking charge of the match and will be assisted by Richard Martin and Simon Knapp. Lee Swabey is the fourth official.
Weather Forecast
The BBC weather forecast for the match given as grey cloud with highs of 10°C.
Ticket News
Tickets for the match are set at:
Adult seats: £20.
Concessions (65 and over, students and disabled with helper) seats: £14.
Juniors (16’s and under) seats: £7.
The match is not all-ticket, supporters can pay at the turnstiles on the day.
Other News
- BBC Radio Surrey
Supporters unable to make the match can hear live coverage from the match on BBC Radio Surrey (on 104.6 fm) which is brought to you by the regular team of Gavin Denison and Aldershot Town Media Manager Steve Gibbs.
Supporters are reminded that there is no internet coverage of this match.