Bowyer's best wishes to Cheltenham counterpart

Blackpool boss Gary Bowyer sent best wishes to Gary Johnson, his opposite number at Cheltenham Town

Assistant manager Russell Milton will take charge of the Robins for the ninth successive time at Bloomfield Road this Saturday while Johnson continues his recovery from heart surgery.

The 61-year-old had what the club described as “straight-forward” surgery back in March but the experienced boss is still yet to return to the dugout.

Bowyer said: “Their manager is on the way to recovery and that brings everything into perspective. Hopefully he’ll be here this weekend so we can wish him well.

“I don’t think it’s had a massive effect on them because if you look at the last four games, they’ve picked up some good points. They’ll be coming here confident on the back of what they’ve done.”

Cheltenham come into the game on the back of a vital 2-1 win against Grimsby Town, which leaves them five points ahead of the dropzone.

It means, with three games remaining, the Robins have everything still to play for and Bowyer knows they will pose his side plenty of problems.

“The league is fascinating,” he added. “I think you can look at it from 13th to where we are, all those sides are in the hunt for the play-offs.

“Then it’s not just a two-horse race for the relegation spots so I think there’s a hell of a lot of football left to play and all those sides have got something riding on these games, whether that be affecting relegation or those play-off places.

“It’s going to be the hardest game because it’s the next one, it’s as simple as that.”

The Pool boss also opted to repeat his message that it’s only the next game that counts and refuses to look too far ahead when it comes to the play-offs.

“Not wanting to sound boring but if you go over the last 10, 11 or 12 interviews it’s the same message from me,” he said.

“We can’t afford to look at the Leyton Orient game until the Leyton Orient game is around the corner and ready to play.

“We’ve got to look at Cheltenham and that’s what we’ve done. They’ve picked up and they’ve gone their last four games unbeaten and we know the threats they possess.”