Cheltenham Town have been one of the busiest clubs in the EFL so far in the January transfer window, with six arrivals entering the Jonny-Rocks Stadium in the first two weeks of business.
The left side of The Robins’ back line will in particular have a new look with Chris Hussey’s departure to Port Vale and the double signing of Barnsley’s Ben Williams and former Burton Albion player Reece Hutchinson.
Manager Michael Duff believes the business means they now have competition for places all over the pitch: “The position we didn’t have competition for was left wing-back. It’s been addressed that’s exactly what we want, competition for places.”
Duff also praised Lewis Freestone for standing in at wing-back, claiming that his “best game was against Riyad Mahrez” when he filled in their against Manchester City in the FA Cup.
The addition of Aston Villa’s Aaron Ramsey on loan on Wednesday means that there’s plenty of fresh faces to blood in. But Duff believes the Robins’ early business is a big bonus.
INTERVIEW: Following his arrival on loan at the club today, new signing Aaron Ramsey believes it’s the perfect next step in his career. He’s been speaking in his first interview since joining the club.
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“The beauty of getting them all in so early is that there are no midweek January games. We can get them in and get some proper training in on how we play, analysis work to try and bed them in.”
The steady adaptation process for new signings over January could see a Cheltenham build up form and climb up the table towards the end of the season.
The Jonny-Rocks stadium hosts League One juggernaut Charlton Athletic who’ve surged up the table to one point behind the Robins since appointing Johnnie Jackson in December.
But it was the reverse fixture back in September where Duff’s side recorded one of their most impressive wins of the season.
The Robins blew them away at the Valley, going 2-0 up in 30 minutes, with goals from Matty Blair and Taylor Perry, before holding out for a 2-1 win.
It was an excellent performance, with Duff saying: “with the ball it’s probably as good as we’ve been. But, they’ll be a different animal on Saturday: different manager, formation and players in the team.
We caught them on a good day in terms of them not being quite at it, while we were having a good day and it ended up 2-1.”
Duff is under no illusion that they’ll have to be at their very best to get a positive result from this game.
