Duff looking forward to home comforts

MICHAEL Duff admits it will be “nice to get home” when his Cheltenham Town side host Milton Keynes Dons in Sky Bet League One today.

The Robins have played eight matches so far in all competitions this season, but only two of them have been at home – the defeat to Wycombe and the victory over Ipswich in the middle of last month.

Indeed, their last four matches have all been on the road, with League engagements at Fleetwood and Burton, an EFL Cup victory at Gillingham, and Tuesday’s EFL Trophy tie at Bristol Rovers.

However, they finally return to home soil against the Dons today.

Duff told reporters: “I didn’t realise that we’d had six out of eight away from home this season. It will be nice to get home, against a good team.

“We have a tough month coming up on paper, in terms of size of club, but every club in this League will be bigger than us. They changed their manager, but Liam (Manning) has come in and they’ve brought him in for a reason.

“He hasn’t changed anything in terms of the way they want to play, but there is a definite footprint of how they want to play, what their teams look like. They have some really good players. I went to watch them last week and they want to dominate the ball, which is fine. But it’s important we try to dictate where they have the ball.”

■ Yeovil Town got their National League campaign up and running with a 2-1 win at Aldershot on Bank Holiday Monday, and they will aim to build on that against FC Halifax at Huish Park today.

Glovers boss Darren Sarll expects it to be a battle against the side from West Yorkshire.

He said: “We’ve had some good games with Halifax, very tactical. They seem to want to bully their way through the season.”