Marcus Braddock gives us his preview to Town's friendly against Cheltenham Town
Tonight, Town face Cheltenham in our fourth pre-season friendly at Whaddon Road.
Managed by ex-Cheltenham defender Michael Duff, last season the Robins finished in 16th place in League Two.
Duff was appointed in September and the Robins have won 16 and lost 16 of his 46 games in charge with 14 ending in draws.
Duff has made a few additions to last seasons squad with their most recent acquisition being
defender Dan Bowry on a 1 year deal from Charlton. Ex-Brighton midfielder Rohan Ince arrived at the start of July and 22-year-old striker Tahavon Campbell came in from Forest Green Rovers in mid-June. They've also signed Reuben Reid from Forest Green after he scored 13 goals from 40 league games last season.
We've played Cheltenham 21 times with Shrewsbury winning 11 and Cheltenham winning 5 times. We first played each other in the 1999/2000 season when we beat them 1-0 at Whaddon road and they beat us 2-0 at Gay Meadow. The following season they beat us 4-1 in the F.A. Cup which is the most that either team have scored against the other.
I'm still chanting the “results are unimportant in pre-season” mantra, the focus will be mainly on fitness and tactics which is as it should be. It would be nice to see us score though, we've not managed that since the pre-season training camp although we've come very close as new players develop an understanding with each other. I was quietly impressed by the way we've done things, the approach seems professional with everyone putting 100% in.
Hopefully, this will continue as pre-season draws to a close and we'll be in the perfect position to give Portsmouth a hard game on August 3rd.
COYB!!!