'They've been really good' - Cheltenham boss full of 'respect' for Cobblers

Cheltenham Town manager Wade Elliott is expecting a tough game when his side host Northampton at Whaddon Road this weekend.

The Robins, who will be without ex-Cobbler James Olayinka, plus George Lloyd, Oli Hammond and Will Goodwin, picked up their first point of the season with a goalless draw at Portsmouth last weekend.

Cheltenham won the League Two title in 2021 before finishing 15th and 16th in their first two seasons in League One, the second of which came under Elliott following Michael Duff’s departure.

“They’ve been really good,” said Elliott on tomorrow’s opponents. “They had a really good win against Peterborough at the weekend and we know how good Peterborough are.

"They were excellent against Lincoln, who play a similar way to us, so that’s been a good one for us to watch because they really caused Lincoln some problems, to the extent where Lincoln had to change their shape at half-time and they don’t often do that.

"But they’ve started really well. They had a tough opener at Stevenage, who are very strong. They ran Wigan very close, and we’ve seen how good Wigan are. And they’ve had two good performances and results against Lincoln and Peterborough. It’s not so much a case of them finding their feet. They are just a good team, who have come into the division with momentum. It’ll be a tough test.

"It’s a group who have been together for a while and they are well-drilled. They’ve had a couple of years of being at the top of their league, so they’ve been used to getting results. We are fully respectful of them.”