Cheltenham Town vs Southend United - team news

Player/Manager Rob Newman will again stick to his policy of naming the side just before the kick-off for Tuesday night’s game at Whaddon Road against promotion chasing eighth placed Cheltenham Town, Newman has named a eighteen man squad to travel to Gloucestershire.

Blues squad: Darryl Flahavan, Daniel Gay, Stephen Broad, Damon Searle, Danny Kerrigan, Leon Cort, Phil Whelan, Rob Newman, Leon Johnson, Mark Beard, Marek Szmid, Brian Barry-Murphy, Ian Selley, Stuart Thurgood, Scott Forbes, Barrington Belgrave, Tes Bramble and Mark Rawle.

It was hoped that Rob Newman would now decide that after another poor performance playing the 5-3-2 at Swansea City on Friday night, he would drop himself to the bench and revert to an attacking 4-4-2 formation but The Little Gazette has learnt that Thirty eight year old Newman will again play himself in the five man defence, despite Blues searching for three points to help their hopes of a top ten finish alive.

Irish born left-sided midfielder Brian Barry-Murphy on loan from Preston North

Kevin Maher - still out injured

End, will continue in midfield alongside the other loanee Ian Selley, Kevin Maher is still out with his injured toe but hopes to be back in training very soon while Steven Clark is still suffering from his knee injury and could still be out of action for another two to three weeks therefore the right midfield position could well be filled by Mark Beard, Beard who was sent-off on his return to action at Roots Hall against York City will miss the match at Hartlepool on Saturday and the home games against Bristol Rovers and Oxford United due to a three match ban for violent conduct, although Stuart Thurgood remains favourite for that position tonight.

Mark Rawle - could be in the starting line-up

The worry up-front is the lack of goals for the Blues strikers, Tes Bramble has not scored for six games and Barrington Belgrave has gone five matches without a strike, Mark Rawle who has been in and out of the side recently last scored in the 2-0 victory at Roots Hall over Hull City, Blues last three point haul. Rawle could well replace Belgrave in the starting line-up. Tony Richards has a back injury and did not travel.

The defence will be the five of Darryl Flahavan, Stephen Broad, Damon Searle, Leon Cort, Skipper Phil Whelan and Rob Newman.

Probable side: Flahavan, Broad, Searle, Whelan, Cort, Selley, Thurgood, Barry-Murphy, Rawle and Bramble.

Subs: Gay, Johnson, Beard, Belgrave, and Forbes or Szmid or Kerrigan

Meanwhile Southend United’s under nineteen’s slipped to another Football League Youth Alliance League defeat at Brentford on Monday afternoon, going down 4-0 to the young Bees. Blues included six Triallist’s and also Matt Hearn who is on a work experience/loan from Colchester United.

SOUTHEND: Craig Charles, Bill Burgess, Ben Price, Anthony Clark, Flory Zinga, Adam Day, Sean Coburn, Luke Moore, Gerald England, Steven City, Matt Hearn
SUBS: Daryl Plummer, David Bryan, Sam Saunders Southend United’s under nineteen’s continue their league campaign on Saturday as they travel to Portsmouth, kick off 11.30am.

Cheltenham Town Boss Stevee Cotterill had this to say about tonights game on the official Cheltenham Town web-site

Steve Cotterill is urging everyone at Cheltenham Town to put the FA Cup run firmly behind them and concentrate on the remaining Division Three games this season. he Robins have 16 games left in the league and the main focus will now be on trying to ensure a place in the play-offs or maybe even better. "We have to put the West Brom game behind us and put the whole FA Cup run down as a very good experience," said Cotterill. "There will be no more talking about the FA Cup now. "The games are going to be coming thick and fast so we just have to get on with it now. We will have to tone the players' training down a little bit though from now until the end of the season." Cotterill is hoping that his players can take plenty of encouragement from Saturday's performance in their 1-0 defeat at The Hawthorns in the FA Cup fifth round. He also believed the players to be fit and sharp enough not to be adversely affected by such a big game only three days before an important League match against Southend.

"I think you have to say how much has Saturday's game given the players rather than taken away from them," he said. "I would imagine it would have given the players more confidence to play against anyone they will meet this season. At the moment they are fit enough and in tip top condition, apart from a couple of little niggles that we picked up on Saturday. "Russell Milton picked up a little niggle to his hamstring and whereas I wanted to keep him on the pitch for 90 minutes, that might have been to the detriment of the rest of the season. "Hopefully he will be okay for tomorrow and we caught the problem early enough. All credit to the players because in between the cup games they have not switched off and have maintained good league form for a few months now. "The games we have had to fit in recently have not been because of the cup but have been down to the weather."

Cotterill explained that Southend will provide tricky opposition, not least because their team has changed considerably since the teams last met in September. He also hoped that some of the extra supporters that have been attracted by the cup run will add their support to the promotion push. "Their team has changed from one week to the next," said Cotterill. "They have signed some good players on loan and changed their formation to mirror image Swansea last week. "They will be a decent side as we will be. "The players deserve some good support for the rest of the season because not only this season but over the last five years we have given them plenty to cheer about."

Steve Connolly
www.thelittlegazette.com