Cheltenham Town host Newport County in League Two on Saturday evening, 18 April 2026, with both clubs still chasing the kind of late-season points that can settle a few nerves. Cheltenham are the higher-placed side, sitting 18th on 49 points, and Steve Cotterill’s team have done enough this spring to keep some daylight between themselves and the real trouble below. Newport, down in 22nd with 37 points, are still looking over their shoulders and need wins fast if they’re going to drag themselves clear.
There’s a bit of spite in this fixture too, and not just because both sides need the result. Cheltenham have had the better of the recent meetings, Newport have been too easy to score against, and the table paints the picture clearly enough. Cheltenham aren’t safe, not by a long way, but they’re in the stronger position. Newport, under Christian Fuchs, arrive with pressure on every side. That usually leads to one of two things: caution or chaos. This one feels like the latter.
Cheltenham’s season has been patchy, but the last few weeks have at least given Cotterill something to work with. Their most recent outing was a 2-1 home win over Gillingham on 14 April, sealed with a late Mo Faal goal in stoppage time after Ronan Hale and Isaac Hutchinson had done the early damage. Before that came a huge away performance at Walsall, where they tore through the hosts 4-0 on 11 April. That was the kind of result that turns a flat run into genuine momentum. It wasn’t just a smash-and-grab either. They were sharp, ruthless and properly on it.
There was a reminder of their flaws in between those two wins, though. Cambridge United held them to a 1-1 draw at home on 6 April, and earlier in the month Cheltenham lost 1-0 at Chesterfield after the more chaotic 5-2 defeat at Notts County. The Crewe draw on 17 March was another case of leaving points behind on home soil. So this isn’t a team that’s suddenly become watertight. Still, they’ve now gone three league games without defeat, and that’s a decent platform heading into a match like this. At home, Cheltenham have been solid if unspectacular: eight wins, four draws and eight defeats, with 25 scored and 26 conceded. That’s a proper mid-table home return. Nothing flashy. Enough to compete.
What stands out most is that they’re not shy in front of goal when the game opens up. Fifty league goals overall isn’t a bad number for a side in 18th, and the recent wins have had a bit of bite to them. They’ve also been less fragile at home than Newport have been away, which matters here. The issue is obvious too: one clean sheet in recent league games would have made their lives easier. Instead, they tend to let opponents in, which keeps matches live far longer than they’d like. That’s not a disaster for a BTTS bet — it’s actually the sort of profile that helps one along — but it does mean they can’t afford a slow start.
Newport arrive with a far uglier league picture. They’re 22nd, and the numbers are blunt. Ten wins from 43 matches, 73 goals conceded overall, and only 18 points away from home. That’s a hard set of figures to dress up. Their last six have swung between the odd encouraging result and a lot of damage. The latest was a 2-1 home win over Harrogate Town on 11 April, a useful lift after a pair of defeats. Nathaniel Opoku gave them an early lead, Jack Evans doubled it before the interval, and they held on after the break. It was needed. Plain and simple.
Before that, though, the pattern was familiar. Newport lost 3-1 at Notts County on 6 April and 2-0 at home to Crawley Town three days earlier. They had beaten Shrewsbury Town 1-0 on 28 March, which looked like the sort of result that might spark a climb, but it didn’t stick. There was a 2-1 defeat at Walsall on 21 March and another home loss to Bromley before that. Four defeats in six tells you plenty. They can nick a result. They can’t sustain one. That’s the issue.
Away from home, the problems deepen. Newport’s away record reads five wins, three draws and 13 defeats, with 22 scored and 38 conceded. That’s not a side travelling with much comfort. They do have enough about them to nick a goal on the road, and that’s important here, because they’ve now gone three matches without a clean sheet. Their matches are often noisy, open, and a bit too generous from a defensive point of view. xG-wise, the recent home win over Harrogate offered some encouragement — 1.50 expected goals and only 0.77 against — but that feels like the exception rather than the rule. On the road, they’re usually asked uncomfortable questions and too often fail to answer them.
There’s also a broader pattern here. Newport’s season has been built on bouts of resistance, not control. When they score first, they’ve got a chance. When they don’t, they spend too long chasing games and leave gaps everywhere. That leaves them vulnerable against a Cheltenham side who, for all their inconsistency, have enough attacking threat to punish mistakes. You wouldn’t want to call Newport toothless. That’d be too harsh. But you also wouldn’t trust them to shut this down for 90 minutes. Not away from home. Not with their record.
Head-to-Head
Cheltenham have had Newport’s number in recent meetings, and that’s hard to ignore. The most recent league meeting ended in a 2-0 away win for Cheltenham on 18 October 2025, after a 3-0 victory in Newport in February 2025. Go back to August 2024 and Cheltenham won 3-2 at home in League Two, while the clubs also met in the Football League Trophy the previous September, with Cheltenham winning 2-1 away. Newport did win a Trophy tie in October 2023, but the recent league trend belongs very clearly to Cotterill’s side.
That matters because these teams have settled into a familiar rhythm: Cheltenham usually find a way through Newport’s defence. The visitors have also gone four straight meetings without a clean sheet against them. That’s a neat little thread for a BTTS angle, though the bigger point is simpler. Cheltenham know how to hurt this opponent, and Newport haven’t found the defensive answer.
We Predict: Both Teams To Score
We’re backing Both Teams To Score at 4/5 for this one. It’s the clearest angle on the board. Cheltenham are coming in with three games unbeaten and enough attacking form to feel confident they’ll nick a goal at home. Newport, for all their league struggles, rarely go quietly and they did score twice against Harrogate in their last outing. Put the two together and a scoreline that features both sides feels more likely than not.
The 1-1 correct score fits the feel of the game too. Cheltenham have the better league position and the stronger home record, but Newport’s away numbers and recent habit of conceding mean they’re live to give up chances. At the same time, Cheltenham’s defence hasn’t exactly been airtight. One goal each is the most natural outcome. If you want a slightly firmer angle, Cheltenham double chance would be the safer route, but BTTS is the better price and the more honest reflection of how these two have been playing.
