Cheltenham Town will welcome Gareth Ainsworth’s Wycombe side to Whaddon Road for the first time since February 2018 as the two sides meet in League One tomorrow.
The encounter will also be the first league game with fans since a 0-1 loss to Bolton in December 2020.
The sides first met in Gloucestershire in the LDV Trophy back in 2002, with the away side coming away 2-1 winners. The first meeting between the two saw Cheltenham come away with a 3-1 loss. It took the robins four years to claim a home win against the Chilterns side, another 2-1 result but this time in favour of the home side.
The two have met twenty three times since the first meeting in 1974, with the Gloucestershire side coming out on top only five times, drawing ten and losing eight. Town’s last win came eight years ago with the last home win coming nine years ago in December 2012, the Robins scored four unanswered goals in the League Two encounter.
To say another League meeting would be coming soon would have looked slightly unlikely back in 2020 as Wanderers were promoted to England’s second tier whilst Cheltenham remained in League Two. A league title win and honourable relegation means that the two face off yet again just a year later.
The Chairboys kicked off their third tier campaign with a 2-1 win over Accrington Stanley at Adams Park, this was followed by a 0-0 (3-4 win on penalties) draw away to Exeter City in the Carabao Cup. The robins started off with a 1-1 draw away to Crewe and a fine 0-2 away win over Bristol Rovers in the same cup on Tuesday night.
Michael Duff will have a mostly full squad to pick from with a potential selection headache up front with Alfie May, Andy Williams and new boy Kyle Vassell all on one goal and a debut strike for the latter could see Vassell claim one of the starting places. Captain Ben Tozer could make his first league start as he nears the end of his recovery from Covid-19 but Sean Long could retain his position with Tozer coming off the bench.
Gareth Ainsworth could be without four players who picked up knocks in midweek as Matt Bloomfield, Jason McCarthy, Daryl Hogan and Joe Jacobson are possibly set to miss out. The young fans attending tomorrow will be excited to hear that Adebayo Akinfenwa is likely to take to the pitch alongside Gareth McCleary and Josh Scowen who were all rested midweek.
My Lineup: Evans, Hussey, Raglan, Boyle, Long, Blair, Sercombe, Chapman, Wright, Williams, May.
Where: The Jonny Rocks Stadium, Whaddon Road.
When: Saturday August 14th, 3pm kick off.
Referee: Carl Boyeson