Kyle Haynes has a washing machine to thank for becoming a Cheltenham Town record breaker.

The Wolverhampton-born right-back became the fifth Under-18 to represent the Robins this season when he went on as a substitute during the second half of last Tuesday's 1-1 draw with Oldham.

At 17 years, two months and 26 days, Haynes is the youngest player to appear for Cheltenham in the Football League.

Haynes began his scholarship with the Robins last summer. He and Northern Irish midfielder Cathal Tosh were accepted onto the scholarship programme due to the arrival of a new laundry room at the club's Seasons training ground.

The savings Cheltenham made on external launderette bills freed up enough money for two possible stars of the future.

Tosh scored a fine goal for the Robins' reserves at Swansea on Wednesday, 24 hours after Haynes replaced the most experienced man on the pitch, 37-year-old Alan Wright.

"It was brilliant and I didn't expect it that early, but it was an honour and I am really pleased," Wolves fan Haynes said.

"Cheltenham is a good club for bringing young players through and youth team players have to be ready when the opportunity comes.

"When I was released by Birmingham City, I wondered if I was good enough, but I got picked up by Cheltenham and when John Brough (youth team boss) offered me a scholarship and I thank him for that."

Paul Collicutt, now manager of Bishop's Cleeve, remains the youngest player ever to play for Cheltenham. He played against Witney Town in 1975 aged 16 years, 11 months and 16 days. The manager then was Denis Allen, father of current boss Martin.

Allen takes his team to Walsall today and says building up relationships with top clubs can be the key to a successful future for Cheltenham Town.

The Robins boss used his contacts at Premier League giants Tottenham Hotspur, where his cousin Clive is developmental coach, to bring in two youngsters, David Hutton and Yuri Berchiche, this week.

He also called upon former clubs Leicester City and West Ham earlier in the season and has linked up with the likes of Wigan Athletic and Bristol City.

With an almost complete overhaul of his squad expected this summer and a dramatically reduced wage bill with which to work, Allen plans to assemble a much younger group of players.

"We are looking at a much younger squad and building up relationships with bigger clubs," Allen said.

"West Ham were delighted with what we did with Josh Payne and after he came on for his debut (versus Blackburn last Saturday), their reserve team manager phoned me up to thank us for what we'd done for him.

"They might use us in the future because they want to know their boys are going to be looked after and this could open up roads to us bringing more young players here to develop with us."

Allen has been putting the miles in, trawling the country in a bid to unearth potential signings for next season.

He has built a team virtually from scratch in the past and enjoyed success with Barnet and Brentford, although he is yet to enjoy a promotion.

"It's about contacts and about clubs trusting you to look after their players on and off the field," he said.

"I don't sit at home watching TV every night, I am out and about at games all over the country, talking to agents, networking, speaking to managers at top clubs, asking what they can lend us for a year of development.

"My past record has been good and I look after players well so those relationships in the summer, depending on our budget, are going to be very important."

Cheltenham Town (from): Brown, Lindegaard, Townsend, Diallo, Berchiche, Watkins, Gallinagh, Artus, Hutton, Connor, Antonio, Hammond, Constantine, Bignall, Durrant, Ledgister, Haynes, Puddy.