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Preview: Cheltenham Town can extend their lead at the top as they host Salford City

Cheltenham Town will look to open up a gap at the top of the League Two table as they welcome Salford City to The Jonny-Rocks Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Also on Saturday, fellow Gloucestershire side Forest Green Rovers play second placed Cambridge United so a win could see the Robins pull away from the congested pack.

Although they face a mouth-watering prospect of extending their lead at the top, Michael Duff appears to be aware of the threat Salford pose as he said: “It’s going to be really, really tough.”  

Cheltenham:

Duff’s men will be out to prove a point after they suffered a disappointing 2-0 loss to strugglers Barrow on Tuesday night.

It marked the Robins’ ninth loss of the campaign but Duff remained level-headed after the defeat as he insisted: “It’s about trying to take the positives out of every game and moving with that.”

Despite the loss, Cheltenham have been going fairly strong in the league – winning three of their last five matches, including an incredibly late win against Exeter City.

The Cheltenham boss was able to provide some positive news in terms of injuries as he confirmed that “everyone is fit that was available for that game [against Barrow].”

However he did add that forward George Lloyd remains out for the foreseeable future.

Salford:

Ninth-placed Salford City could be there for the taking in Cheltenham’s eyes – having won only one of their last five and drawing their most recent game 0-0 to Colchester.

However, winning the Papa John’s Trophy last weekend, they will be looking to build upon their Wembley success and progress up the tight League Two table.

Salford’s Ian Henderson could be one to watch, as the forward has netted an impressive 13 league goals so far this season.

Head-to-Head:

With Salford only having come up to League Two in 19/20 season and last year’s campaign being cut short due the Coronavirus pandemic, there haven’t been many games between the two sides.

Their last game against each other took place in December and finished a tight 0-0 draw – previously to that, they have only met once where Cheltenham ran out 2-0 winners last season.

Prediction:

It will be a close contest, for sure. Both teams will see this as a vital three-points in terms of the overall season and so could almost turn into a game of chess.

I’m predicting a narrow 1-0 Cheltenham victory.

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