Wednesday will be new opponents for Robins in 2021-22
CHELTENHAM Town now know 19 of their 23 opponents for the 2021/22 League One campaign.
They will take on Sheffield Wednesday for the first time in a competitive match, having only previously met the Owls in a 1989 friendly at Whaddon Road, which the South Yorkshire club won 5-1.
Wednesday have dropped down from the Championship along with Rotherham United and Wycombe Wanderers after a dramatic final day last Saturday.
Wayne Rooney’s Derby County narrowly avoided relegation after a late strike from Cardiff’s former Cheltenham midfielder Marlon Pack denied Rotherham the three points they needed to survive.
With the regular League One campaign concluded on Sunday, Cheltenham will also face three of play-off hopefuls Blackpool, Sunderland, Lincoln City and Oxford United next term.
They have played Sunderland only once, in the 2005/06 League Cup second round at the Stadium of Light, and the Black Cats progressed after a 1-0 extra-time victory.
The other confirmed teams in the third tier are Charlton Athletic, Portsmouth, Ipswich Town, Gillingham, Accrington Stanley, Crewe Alexandra, MK Dons, Doncaster Rovers, Fleetwood Town, Burton Albion, Steve Cotterill’s Shrewsbury Town, Plymouth Argyle, AFC Wimbledon and Wigan Athletic.
Cheltenham have faced Charlton only in the League Cup before, winning 1-0 thanks to Harry Pell’s goal in a 2016 first round clash at Whaddon Road.
The Robins have played Ipswich, but as long ago as the Tractor Boys’ Southern League stint during the 1930s.
The only teams in the division Cheltenham have never faced before at League Two level are Sheffield Wednesday, Sunderland (if they stay down) Charlton, Ipswich and Wigan.
They faced Wigan in League One during the 2002/03 campaign, which was the Robins’ first in the third tier.
Wimbledon’s newly-built Plough Lane will be a new ground for Cheltenham, along with Wednesday’s Hillsborough and The Valley, home of Charlton.
Cambridge United and Bolton Wanderers will also join Cheltenham in making the step up from League Two, along with one of Morecambe, Newport County, Forest Green Rovers and Tranmere Rovers, who are battling it out in the play-offs.