Referee and Millwall end Cheltenham's perfect record

Tuesday night was, in clichéd terms, "just one of those days." In the morning, things looked promising; the sun was shining, and the weather was such that I could have ventured into my University campus in a t-shirt and shorts and not even felt midly chilly.

So following a rather uneventful day’s lectures, and an uneventful evening spent watching Hollyoaks and occasionally playing Football Manager, I made the short journey down to Whaddon Road.

This was my first experience of a match involving Millwall FC. Was their fans’ reputation deserved? If Cheltenham won would they start attacking the home support and vandalising cars? Would a Cheltenham defeat be better for my safety? As it was they remained perfectly well behaved, if not a little bit quiet, though only the hardcore fans would have relished a Tuesday night trip to the Westcountry.

Frustratingly Scott Brown – who surely must be fit by now – remained on the bench, with Andy Lindegaard, who still hasn't been totally convincing, on the left hand side. Ancient full backs Wright and Gill of course kept their places.

The first half was a game of few chances, and rather scrappy, similar to the Bournemouth game. It ended with Dave Bird breaking his nose. Despite carrying on for a few minutes, he was replaced at half time by Adam Connolly, who I was sure had gone out on loan by now. Despite being a free scoring central midfielder on my successful Cheltenham career on FIFA 08, Adam has struggled in the real world, but he was given a chance, and to be fair, he didn't do at all badly.

The goal came ten minutes into the second half, and was scored by Gary Alexander. I'm not sure how to describe the goal, but it was very scrappy, and very "League One" in execution. It will not feature in compilation videos in the future.

Scott Brown's appearance came much too late. Brown, a decent central midfielder, would probably have been a better bet than Connolly to replace Dave Bird. My belief however is that Keith Downing was saving Brown to replace Lindegaard or D'Agostino later in the game. In the end both wingers came off, to be replaced by Brown and cult hero Damien Spencer, who came on, ran about a bit, and nearly scored a header.

Not helping either was the referee. Any dubious offside decision was awarded in Millwall's favour, blatant fouls and handballs were missed, and Millwall's appalling timewasting – "Oh no! I've suffered a terrible injury! I'd best lie on the floor for ten minutes writhing in agony...oh wait it's just a stubbed toe." The man in black’s performance brought the usual cries of "How much are they paying you?" and as the game wore on, it became apparent that Cheltenham weren't going to score. And they didn't.

And thus what I hoped would be a great night became only an "alright" night, and Cheltenham must now look ahead to the game against Gillingham on Saturday, which, due to my dislike of the London Underground, I will probably not be attending.

JAMES LEWIS