Cheltenham hold on for draw

There are boring 1-1 draws, and there are entertaining 1-1 draws, and this would probably just come under the second category. However it was not entertaining in the case of free flowing football, there were no spectacular goals, or spectacular pieces of skill. Instead it was end to end stuff, with both teams creating enough chances to score a hatful. Despite Southend badgering Cheltenham's goal with shots, the Robins took the lead on 25 minutes. Steven Gillespie, lively as ever, danced through the Southend defence, and squared to give Steve Brooker an opportunity that even my grandmother couldn't have failed to score. The rest of the half consisted of each goalkeeper taking very, very long goal kicks, and not much action on the floor.

The second half began with Southend continuing their onslaught on the Cheltenham goal. While it wasn't pretty, it wasn't the sort of game you could take your eye off, as Southend came forward in waves, with Cheltenham occasionally threatening on the counter attack, thanks to a couple of moments of determination from Damien Spencer. Sadly, two moments of good football didn't hide what was in truth a poor performance from Spencer, and especially the other winger, Ashley Vincent, who did less in 75 minutes than Michael D'Agostino did in 15.

The equaliser finally came with 17 minutes to go, when a clearance fell to Nicky Bailey, who rifled home from the edge of the area.

At this point I was disappointed with two points lost, but as Southend went all out for the winner, I suddenly realised a draw against a team battling for the play offs couldn't be all that bad. After a short period of injury time, in which Southend came close with a free kick, I left Whaddon Road feeling slightly disappointed, but relieved it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

All in all our situation is probably slightly better than it was this time last season. It was around this time that we started to go on a run, winning against decent teams such as Oldham and Doncaster. Hopefully another such run of form will materialise, pulling us clear of the drop zone, and giving us a comfortable mid table position.

JAMES LEWIS