League Two confirmed for next season
There will be three new League opponents for Reds when the Sky Bet English Football League 2 season 2016-17 kicks off on Saturday August 6.
Three of the four teams who came down from League One – Doncaster Rovers, Crewe and Colchester United – all played Reds during our three seasons in the third tier.
But we will be ticking off Blackpool’s Bloomfield Road for the first time next season, which will be the club’s sixth in the League.
Coming up from the National League are champions Cheltenham Town, whom Reds have faced three times before. In our first season in League One in 2011-12 we lost 3-1 at Whaddon Road and beat the Robins, then managed by our ex-boss Mark Yates, 4-2 at home.
Two seasons later we lost 4-3 at Cheltenham in the first round of the Capital One Cup after leading 3-1 at one stage.
Joining the Robins are Grimsby Town, whom we have never played in the League but met twice in our promotion-winning Conference campaign in 2011 when we lost 3-2 at home and drew 0-0 at Blundell Park.
AFC Wimbledon's 2-0 win in Monday's play-off final at Wembley means another trip to Plymouth's Home Park next season.
Away fans will face more travelling than last season.
Although long trips to relegated York and Bristol Rovers have gone so have the relatively short hops to AFC Wimbledon, Dagenham & Redbridge, Oxford and Northampton. While Cheltenham and Colchester are not too far away, Reds supporters will be clocking up the miles to Doncaster, Crewe and Blackpool as well as Argyle and Accrington, who also lost in the play-offs.
The League 2 fixtures will be released on Wednesday, June 22.
CONFIRMED OPPONENTS FOR NEXT SEASON
Blackpool
Crewe Alexandra
Doncaster Rovers
Scunthorpe United
Cheltenham Town
Leyton Orient
Carlisle United
Cambridge United
Luton Town
Mansfield Town
Wycombe Wanderers
Barnet
Exeter City
Hartlepool United
Notts County
Stevenage
Yeovil Town
Morecambe
Newport County
Portsmouth
Accrington Stanley
Plymouth
Grimsby Town
