Team News:

Jamie Stephens (hamstring) is gradually making his way back to full fitness, participating in training sessions this week. Harry Taylor (metatarsal), Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro (knee) remain sidelined along with Elliott Johnson (knee) and Dave Tarpey (knee) are both out with long-term injuries.

Last Time We Met:

The two sides last met a little over a month ago, Cheltenham running out 2-0 winners at The Hive London.

Cheltenham nearly took an early lead but Andre Blackman was in the right place at the right time to head clear off the line before Eisa hit the rebound well over the crossbar.

Dawson opened the scoring in the 32nd minute with a finish at the far post after getting on the end of Mohamed Eisa’s was given space to deliver a dangerous ball across the face of goal.

The visitors doubled their lead in the 6 minutes later when Winchester was allowed to weave his way through the Barnet back line to score.

The Bees best chance to get back into the game came midway through the second half when they went racing down on goal, two-on-one. Shaquile Coulthirst opted to shoot instead of playing John Akinde over to his right through on goal, and it was blocked by Jamie Grimes.

Manager:

Gary Johnson was appointed the manager of Cheltenham Town on 30 March 2015. Previous to this he was the manager of Yeovil Town.
Johnson has been involved in six promotions during his coaching career and has also managed at national team level with Latvia.

Johnson began his managerial career at Newmarket Town, then Cambridge United in 1993 after assisting manager John Beck to two promotions as well the quarter-finals of The FA Cup on two separate occasions.

A couple of seasons a Kettering Town began in 1995 before becoming Latvia manager in 1999.

He went on to have an extremely successful first spell in charge at Yeovil Town winning The FA Trophy in 2002 as well as securing Football League status for the first time in the club’s history.
Johnson then went one further by leading Yeovil to another promotion, securing the League Two title in 2004/05.

After managing Yeovil, Johnson became manager of Bristol City in September 2005.

In his first season in charge, Johnson led City away from relegation zone before achieving automatic promotion the following season with a second place finish in 2006/07.

After promotion, Bristol City enjoyed a great season under Johnson’s leadership. The team went all the way to the Championship play-off final, narrowly missing out to Hull City at Wembley.

Johnson and Bristol City parted company in March 2010 – at the time he was the 9th longest serving manager in English football.

Time at Peterborough and Northampton followed before a return to Yeovil.

He remarkably guided Yeovil to the Championship for the very first time in 2012/13 by winning the play-off final. This success resulted in him being named the npower League One Manager of the Year.

In recognition of his successes with Yeovil, Johnson was presented with the Outstanding Managerial Achievement Award at The Football League Awards 2014.

Dangerman:

22-year-old Mohamed Eisa has scored 12 goals already this season, as well as registering 8 assists across all competitions.

Eisa signed for the Robins after an impressive non-League record with Greenwich Borough. Sudanese striker Eisa is an ice cool finisher who offers real pace up front for Cheltenham.

Last Time Out:

Cheltenham were on the wrong end of a feisty 3-2 defeat at Mansfield last weekend.

The Robins took the lead in the 24^th minute through a Harry Pell spot kick before CJ Hamilton equalised for the stags.

Cheltenham were then reduced to 10 men just before the break, Taylor Moore seeing red for an elbow.

Gary Johnson was sent to the stands for a touchline incident with the Mansfield assistant prior to Mohamed Eisa being stretched off, but he is likely to feature against the Bees tomorrow.

In the second half, Mansfield were also reduced to ten after Hayden White put in a two-footed lunge on Ilias Chatzitheodoridis.

Cheltenham retook the lead when Elijah Adebayo scored but Kane Hemmings tied the game shortly after coming on.

The visitors were then reduced to 9-men when Danny Wright struck Alfie Potter in the back of the head.

In the fourth minute of stoppage time, CJ Hamilton scored to keep all three points in Mansfield

Ticket info:

Adults – £21

Concessions 65+ – £15

U18’s/Students – £7

Please note that it will be CASH ONLY at the turnstiles on the day there will be no card payments. 

Keep up with the game:

Full match commentary from every game is available on iFollow. If you are based outside of the UK & Ireland, you can watch the game live on iFollow.

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