The Robins head to North East Lincolnshire on Saturday to take on Grimsby Town at Blundell Park (kick-off: 3pm).
The second of back-to-back away trips offers an opportunity to do the double over a Mariners outfit who are four places ahead of Michael Duff’s side, and who are looking to put right last weekend’s disappointing showing at Colchester.
Conor Thomas scored a late stoppage time penalty to earn three points against a Grimsby outfit earlier in the campaign who will be out for revenge, while it's a big opportunity ahead of back-to-back home fixtures for Cheltenham to push further up the League Two table if they can snatch a result.
Team news
It was confirmed earlier this week that Alex Addai has been ruled out for the next two months at a minimum. He joins Will Boyle, Sean Long, Johnny Mullins and Nigel Atangana in being unavailable due to injury.
Tyrone Barnett is back in the fold after an improvement on his hamstring problem and could feature after coming on as a substitute at Colchester last time out.
Watch what Michael Duff had to say about the game at the club’s Thursday press conference:
Opposition
Three consecutive wins after a run of four straight league defeats have helped Grimsby to the 43 point mark and sees them sit 14th in League Two. Along with Crawley and Carlisle they have the least amount of draws in the division this season – having only finished all square with their opponents just four times this season.
The Mariners are in their third season back in the Football League after winning promotion from the National League via the play-offs in 2016. Now under the management of Cambridge University graduate Michael Jolley, they have shown plenty of signs of progress and also reached the FA Cup third round this season, bowing out following a 1-0 defeat at Premier League Crystal Palace.
In former Robins forward Wes Thomas they have a leading marksman who has found the net 10 times this term, while they’ve also brought in Kristian Dennis on loan from Notts County in the January transfer window, who will look to add to their talent in front of goal.
Added in with the forward thinking energy provided by the likes of Elliot Embleton, ex-Luton man Jordan Cook and the experienced Martyn Woolford, they possess a noteworthy group that’s boosted by the experience of former Wales international Danny Collins, long serving goalkeeper James McKeown and a number of others too.
They are middle of the road when it comes to their home form this season. They’ve accumulated 26 of their points at Blundell Park with their biggest home win coming just before December against basement club Notts County.
Last time we met
Conor Thomas’ stoppage time penalty earned the Robins all three points when the two teams met earlier this season.
In December the Mariners made the journey south to Gloucestershire and fell behind in the first half after Ryan Broom cut in from the right and fired in via a deflection to open the scoring.
It was all square though when on-loan Sunderland midfielder Elliot Embleton found the back of the net just past the hour mark.
A much needed three points would fall into Cheltenham’s grasp right at the end as Sam Jones was felled in the box, and Thomas stood up to hammer in from 12-yards to seal a late victory.
Watch back the highlights from that meeting:
Tickets
Supporters who haven’t purchased from the ticket office in the build up to Saturday can still pay on the day at Grimsby though prices go up by £2 for adults – junior prices remain the same.
The Travel Club coach for fans who have booked to travel leaves the Jonny-Rocks Stadium at 9.15am.
Coverage
Stay up to date with all that’s going on by following @CTFCofficial on Twitter for all the build-up, team news, match updates and photos from the game. Keep an eye on the club’s Facebook page for team news and goal updates too, while catch full reaction to the final result on the club website after full time.
If you want to listen to full match commentary tune in on iFollow or listen to BBC Radio Gloucestershire’s match coverage.