Shane Duff admits his hopes of making a long-awaited comeback at old club Cheltenham this afternoon may have been put on ice by the big chill.

The Gloucestershire outfit have been putting in frantic work to get the game on, with even chairman Paul Baker joining an army of club staff and volunteer fans to clear snow from the Whaddon Road pitch.

But the absence of any activity so far over Christmas could mean it comes too soon for Duff.

The experienced centre half has been out of action for nearly three months and, despite training with the squad over the past fortnight, he wondered if that was enough opportunity to push his recall claims with Peter Taylor.

Duff said: “I certainly hope to be in contention but I wouldn’t know what the manager’s thinking about me going in (the team) again. It’s hard to force your way in when no games are happening.

“It will be nice to go back to Cheltenham but it would be a lot better to go back there and play. That’s been a target of mine – but I just want to play in any game now.”

Duff spent ten years at Whaddon Road and made 220 appearances. He was awarded a testimonial by the club last season before leaving for City in the summer.

If he does get the chance, it will be an unusual experience walking into the away dressing room. But he is trying to play down the significance and said: “It’s just a game that I want to be involved in.

“Yes, it might be something a bit more for one person on the team but on the whole it’s no different to any other. It means nothing to the next guy.

“I watched the home game against Cheltenham and didn’t really know what to expect.

“Of course I knew a lot of the players on the other team but I just wanted us to win and we played very well.

“I can imagine it might be a bit different going down there but I’ll treat it as just another game.”

Duff has been impressed with the way his former Robins team-mate Mark Yates has adapted to the step up to management.

Yates kept Cheltenham afloat last term after a long relegation battle, before instigating a squad clear-out which has taken them into the top half of the table.

Duff said: “I think he’s done a marvellous job this year. I know he was struggling a bit in the summer with who to get in but he’s obviously got a decent squad there.

“People are asking me about them. Although they haven’t got a huge squad, if most people are fit they’re a good group of players.

“As we know, there are fine lines in this league. They got a few poundings early on away from home but down there they have been quite strong.

“The pitch used to be fantastic, although it’s not as good now because they are ground-sharing (with Gloucester City). But everybody wants to make their home a fortress and they can be difficult to beat.”

Duff helped Cheltenham to promotion through the play-offs in 2006 – and he can see the comparisons with City’s current situation.

He recalled: “We were not doing great at this stage of the season that year. We were just sitting around mid-table but then really picked up over the Christmas and new year period.

“We won three in a row, suddenly got ourselves up to fifth and stayed there to the end when we won the play-offs.

“It shows how quickly you can get that impetus from picking up a few results in a short space of time.”