Michael Duff was full of plaudits for Alfie May during Monday’s press conference, and appreciated the way in which the striker has adapted his game to play the ‘number 10’ role for the Robins.
An injury crisis that has seen attacking midfielders Callum Wright and Taylor Perry, loanees from Leicester City and Wolves respectively, side-lined has made way for May to shine in the position.
“I’ve been really pleased with Alfie,” said Duff. “He’s added so much to his game, linking the play well. He’s infectious, and he’s looked a threat.”
Duff also admitted that he was not too impressed with May when he previously played in the role last season, further emphasising May’s impressive improvement against tougher opposition.
“We played him as a 10 last season for a bit,” said Duff. “It was a bit more of a random 10 though and we just had him run around, he didn’t look nearly as good as he does now.
“We’ve got good competition for places now as well. Last season we couldn’t really play a two behind a one because we didn’t think we had the personnel, but now we’ve got Dan Crowley too and we can play with two number eights,”
Check out how Cheltenham Town Ladies fared in the Women’s FA Cup here
Duff went on to speak about the upcoming contest against Gillingham in the FA Cup first round replay on Tuesday night, highlighting the sides’ two previous games games as proof that it will be a close contest.
“The first game proved it’s close,” said Duff. “It’ll be a tight game I’m sure of that, you look at the league positions and we’re in similar places; the League Cup game went to penalties; last Saturday was another draw, so I’m sure there’ll not be much in the game.”
The winner of the tie will face AFC Wimbledon at Plough Lane on Saturday, 4 December.
