Cheltenham Town manager Michael Flynn says he is disappointed to lose Arkell Jude-Boyd due to an international call up, ruling him out of Saturday’s trip to MK Dons.
The 21-year-old has been called up for Caribbean nation St Lucia ahead of their CONCACAF Nations League ties against Grenada and Curacao. The defender featured in the September matches for his country but was not available due to injury in October.
Jude-Boyd scored his first Cheltenham goal away at Chesterfield, on September 21, but injured himself in the process of the scoring the goal and was replaced by Tom Pett. He returned to action against action against Rotherham in the FA Cup at the start of November, and has made two further sub appearances. Despite that Flynn was hoping to keep him in England to help with recovery.
“Arkell will be a big miss from the squad,” Flynn admitted. “It’s frustrating really because I don’t think Arkell is quite ready to go but obviously once called up that decision is out of my hands and you’ve got to make a personal decision.
“Even if he didn’t go, once being called up we couldn’t have used him just because of the rules so yeah it’s a bit of a difficult one, just because we were managing him after his injury and something we were very confident of him not having a relapse if that happened, now with the travelling, lack of sleep etc. hopefully he doesn’t get injured.”
Saturday’s opponents, managed by former Forest Green assistant Scott Lindsey, find themselves currently occupying a playoff spot and have won all four of their last four league games, but have been knocked out of the FA Cup and EFL Trophy.
It’s the first time the sides will meet in a fixture since March 2023, when Cheltenham drew 2-2 away from home in League One, with Elliot Bonds scoring early on, before two MK goals looked to send them towards a victory until Alfie May equalised in the seventh minute of stoppage time.
Our initial allocation has now SOLD OUT for this weekend’s clash with MK Dons 🚨
— Cheltenham Town (@CTFCofficial) November 13, 2024
We’re in contact regarding further advance tickets but tickets WILL be available on the day from the Away Booth at Stadium MK!#ctfc♦️ pic.twitter.com/WfHJkQekTD
Cheltenham have had a week off going into the fixture whereas on Tuesday night, MK lost 3-1 against Leyton Orient, Callum Hendry with the home side’s goal.
“It’s been a good week, we’ve had the chance to watch MK midweek, even though they changed I would say the whole team, they’re on a good run of form, got some very good players, Scott Lindsey is an excellent manager, great guy,
“It’s going to be a tough game, this will be one of the hardest games I think away, in terms of their budget size, the size of their squad, it will be a very, very difficult game but I like it like that as not many people are giving us a chance.”
Milton Keynes manager Lindsey only joined them in September from Crawley Town, as he replaced the outgoing Mike Williamson.
“Not really, I think it’s quite an easy decision,” Flynn felt about Lindsay’s move. “The facilities that MK have got, the financial backing that they’ve got, the squad they’ve got, I think it was quite an easy decision for Scott, I can’t speak for him but like I say I know him, looking forward to seeing him tomorrow and he deserves it. the job he did at Crawley last season, was phenomenal, when he was at Swindon he had a good record as well, he’s proven himself over and over, it goes to show what a good decision it was from the MK board.”
Ethon Archer has hit form at the perfect time for Cheltenham Town, only two seasons ago the attacker found himself at Raynes Park Vale, in Step Four, but the Cheltenham Town boss believes the 22-year-old’s remarkable rise up the pyramid continues.
“He’s on the start of his journey and he can go as far as he wants, as long as he keeps doing the right things over and over,” Flynn declared. “Ethon’s slightly different, he’s pace, he’s agile, his feet are outstanding, really quick so yeah it’s two slightly different styles, but they’re both effective. It’s going to be a good game, I’m looking forward to it.
“He is a young lad, and the second he gets cocky, he’ll be sat next to me, it’s going to be that tough love with him, because like I said he’s got an unbelievable opportunity to forge out a really, really good career and if I’ve got to come down on him a bit stronger than others to help him realise that, I will because like I said he’s a smashing lad and I want him to fulfil his potential and go on and earn a lot of money out of this game as there is some serious money floating around these days.”
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