Howells plays down Buckle reunion

Paul Buckle during his time in charge at Luton

The 44-year-old, who was appointed Cheltenham Town manager in November last year, walked out on Hatters on the eve of a Conference clash at Macclesfield in February 2013.

Town have yet to cross swords with their ex-boss since and when asked whether it would have an effect, Howells said: “I think I’m one of the only ones left now anyway, so not really.

“He’s the manager, every team has a manager, we want to go there and perform like we did against Plymouth.”

Apart from leading Hatters to the FA Cup fifth round and beating Norwich City 1-0 at Carrow Road, one of Buckle’s other highlights was the signing of skipper Steve McNulty.

The captain is looking forward to catching up with him before the business of three points is at stake as he continued: “It will be nice, he brought me to the club and I’ve got to thank him.

“He’s got to take a bit of praise for bringing me here and I’m still here.

“It will be nice to see him and cross paths again, but l’ll be going there to do my job.

“That’s just football, we all move on, that’s the game we’re in.

“I’ll be shaking his hand and having a chat with him but once the whistle goes we’ll be playing against each other.”

The Robins remain in poor form despite Buckle’s appointment, winning just one of his eight league games, drawing four and losing three.

After a fine 1-0 triumph at Plymouth, Howells can’t wait for Saturday to come around as he said: “We’re looking forward to it definitely now.

“As a team, we want to go there and get three points like we did at Plymouth, and hopefully we can perform like we did there too.”