Cheltenham Town manager Steve Cotterill insists his team need to stay focused to ensure the Robins keep their status in League Two.
The Robins face Fleetwood Town this evening in a repeat of Cotterill’s first game back in charge after 23 years as manager.
The return proved to be an emotional day for the Cheltenham boss as Town secured a 2-0 victory, with goals from Isaac Hutchinson and Josh Martin securing the three points back in October.
Cotterill reflected on the last meeting and praised his team for the work that has been put in since he arrived at the club.
“I think about the first game back, which was an emotional day for myself that.
“A lot of work has gone into these last six months without banging on about it.
“There’s been a hell of a lot of work that has gone on and a lot of work that people don’t see, but I think we have got ourselves in a real decent position to do what I came here to do, to make sure we didn’t go down.”
The Robins’ boss urged his team to stay “quietly determined” as they look to retain their League Two status with games to spare.
“There will be results that will go for us and some against us, and that has already happened, so we need to make sure we stay on an even keel and stay quietly determined to finish the job off.”
As well as a trip to Lancashire this evening, all eyes will be on the famous racecourse as the Cheltenham Festival gets underway today.
Cotterill reflected on some of his previous visits and his old relationship with former racecourse director Edward Gillespie.
“Years ago, Edward Gillespie was in charge, and I had a good relationship with him, and he used to put us in a tent, and we would be in the parade ring and taking penalties against jockeys and cricketers, and we had some good days up there.”
“We’ve been up in the royal box on a couple of occasions, so that was nice, but it’s a brilliant event, and what we were always chasing years ago was trying to take the fame away from the racecourse, but I don’t think you’ll ever take that away.
“Cheltenham will always be synonymous with that, so it’s a great event but not so good for the roads!”
Despite excitement across the town, Cotterill admits that his full focus will remain on the football this week.
“I’m not a big racing man; I don’t really have time for it, and haven’t had too much time to think about it since Friday night.
“It will be busy times, meeting times and avoiding the traffic in Cheltenham, really. But we’ll just get on with the football easily.”
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