Cheltenham Town defender Tom Bradbury is aiming to maintain his unbeaten record away at former club Milton Keynes Dons on Saturday.
He joined Cheltenham on a free transfer from Halifax Town in July 2022 after a successful spell in the National League.
The 26-year-old played for the Buckinghamshire side youth set up before being released by the club at 16 years old. He was born in Aylesbury, which is nearby, and knows that he’ll have family there to see him in action.
“I enjoyed it there,” Bradbury said. “I grew up there, about 20, 30 minutes away, I’ll have a lot of family and friends there in the stadium so it will be nice to go back, obviously went back a couple of years ago in the league, but I’ve had some fond memories there and since I’ve turned professional, I’ve been unbeaten there so hopefully that can continue.
“I was travelling and playing for Reading for a season, you know my dad was doing all sorts of commuting, he luckily worked for himself so he could finish work early, but we’d get back late at night, wake up for school and it just wasn’t practical.
“Thankfully they were able to contact MK for and sort of get me in there and yeah, I had some good years there, enjoyed it, obviously didn’t work out but everyone’s journey is different, I’ve gone back there in League One, I’ll go back now in League Two.”
Cheltenham Town’s defender, Tom Bradbury speaks about the team’s performance so far this season ⚽️💪
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Milton Keynes Dons have the largest stadium in the League with a capacity of 30,500, which is 5,000 larger than Bradford’s Valley Parade. The Dons dropped out of League One two years ago, they did make the playoffs of League Two last year, but were beaten by Scott Lindsey’s Crawley.
Lindsey is now in charge of the home side for Saturday’s fixture after Mike Williamson was sacked at the start of the season.
“Obviously everyone looks at the stadium and enjoys playing there,” Bradbury acclaimed. ”So it will be a nice day for the family, I’ve sort of got the first way out of the way as it were, you go back to your old club for the first time you might have a few feelings towards it but now it’s just let gets three points.
“Yeah, I might struggle to be honest, a few might have to pay for themselves, I’ve got a little pecking order which I won’t say, but yeah I’ve had quite a few requests and calls this week, so it’ll be nice to give them a wave.”
Cheltenham Town are unbeaten in their last seven games, four of those in the league, and are aiming to climb the table for the rest of the season. Michael Flynn’s side dropped out of League One last season, but despite a large overhaul of players, are now starting to pick up points.
Tom Bradbury’s last minute header against Harrogate Town was voted as your September Goal of the Month 🏆👊#ctfc♦️ | @SeymourJohnUK
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“At the moment, we’d probably rather play on a Tuesday,” Bradbury felt. “With the form we’re in, but yeah we’ve had a good week, we can get a lot of work done on the training pitch, gaffer can obviously keep us on it, we’ve had some good results so people might think we take things lightly, but we’ve actually run more and put in some tough sessions but certainly ready for the weekend.”
“I can’t see many people wanting to play us at the moment, it might be classed as confident or cocky, but the boys have full belief, we’ve got some players that are playing really well at the minute so if we can get them the ball and keep them scoring, then we can beat anyone.”
All of the backline for the league fixture against Bromley, apart from Bradbury, were summer signings for Flynn.
“I think we’ve had plenty of time in preseason,” Bradbury said. “If you think Stubbsy coming quite early into the season as well and then I’ve come into the team, we’ve had a good run now, we’ve had a fair few weeks of consistency in the backline, so yeah, I’d say we’re all on the same page as each other and hopefully we can keep getting some more clean sheets.
