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Michael Duff confirms Cheltenham Town are “good to go” after COVID-19 outbreak

Cheltenham Town manager Michael Duff has said that his side are “good to go” after a COVID-19 outbreak forced the club to miss their past two scheduled fixtures.

The Robins were due to play Barrow on Tuesday evening and Carlisle United on Saturday, but both matches were cancelled and will be rearranged for a future date.

The club has handled the outbreak well and are set to travel to Harrogate tomorrow for their League Two fixture.

“There was one new case but other than that everyone was good to go,” Duff said when asked about the situation at the club. “We’re all back in training getting ready for tomorrow.”

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Cheltenham Town had been on top of the pandemic but the recent outbreak is a reminder of how serious the virus is and how important the protocols and restrictions are.

“I think it shows that you can’t take too many precautions,” Duff said. “The protocols that have been put in place, it’s not a case that we’ve become slack, we’ve actually got tighter as it’s gone along. It is what it is. It seems to have effected everyone else and every other football club and unfortunately it’s managed to get into the camp.

“It looks like we’ve nipped it in the bud very quickly, to miss two games last week wasn’t ideal, but the lads that tested positive last week are seven or eight days into isolation so they’ll be coming out soon.”

It’s been a relentless season so far and one positive from the outbreak was that it gave the players some time off.

“For the players it was look after yourselves,” the manager said. “Go and have a rest. You’ve got to try and use it as a positive. (The players) did two or three little sessions in terms of what we got them to do. They’re not going to de-train in a week. The mental break would have been good for them because it has been relentless. You’re constantly recovering or preparing so just having six days of total nothingness and spending time with family, I know that’s all you can do at the minute!

Cheltenham Town travel to Harrogate tomorrow for a 18:00 kick off.

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