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Club News

Yates: Difficult Game

16 January 2014

Club News

Yates: Difficult Game

16 January 2014

Mark Yates is under no illusions about the tough game ahead when Accrington come to town.

Robins manager Mark Yates speaking to the press this morning ahead of the home match versus Accrington Stanley (3pm):

"Training has been good. Things have been a bit bitty over the Christmas period in terms of fixtures being postponed and called off because of waterlogged pitches. It's annoying for everybody but after we had a rest I thought we played well last week against a decent Burton side. Unfortunately we didn't get the result we wanted or deserved but it's back to Saturday's game now and we play every Saturday now with a couple of midweek games in between and we do so in decent spirits and decent form.


"We're not getting carried away. We are mid-table at the moment but we're not too far from the bottom so we have to make sure we keep picking up points. We'll try and do our business quietly to try and catch one or two teams up every week.

"Michael (Ihiekwe) is ready for first team football. Whether he starts on Saturday remains to be seen but I have brought him here to be involved and Wolves are certainly keen for him to get involved and playing regular football. He played well the other day and we'll see what we come up with on Saturday. I wanted him to look at us and the shape we have been playing but I also wanted to take a look at him playing with other League Two players and he did very well.

"Accrington have improved leaps and bounds by all accounts from the few DVDs we have watched and reports we have had. They have some experienced players there like the full backs and the strikers, Odejayi and Webber. It's going to be a difficult game because they have got some good players but we have to make sure we do everything we can to perform as well as we can to try and win the game.

"We lost our concentration with a few things on Saturday which cost us especially with the first goal. We had good possession deep in their half of the pitch so we just have to tighten up on one or two things like that and go and perform like we did for the majority of the game against Burton.

"We have to establish exactly where we are and what we're doing but we have a couple of targets and a couple of things bubbling away underneath but nothing for Saturday I think. I want to get most (transfer business) done next week if I can and if I do anything at all."

Mark Yates' Cheltenham are 4/5 favourites this weekend and there are some great odds currently available. For a 3-1 Robins win you can get odds of 14/1 currently. Sign up to Sky Bet using www.skybet.com/cheltenham today and you can earn a free match bet of up to £30 whilst earning money for your club!

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