Cheltenham reach new highs with a sensational double

Back in November, Cheltenham took on Leeds United at Whaddon Road. A capacity crowd packed into the small stadium, to watch Cheltenham defend heroically, and nick a late goal to take the three points. Fans went wild, and it was billed as one of Cheltenham's greatest ever results.

But surely it was a one off. Surely Leeds would wait until Cheltenham came to Elland Road and teach them a lesson in football? Especially since Cheltenham's away form had been pretty much woeful. Even Port Vale had managed to hammer us 3-0 earlier in the season.

So onto Tuesday March 11. The Saturday before, Cheltenham had lost 2-1 at Yeovil after a poor performance. The doom merchants were out in force. "Go easy on us" they begged Leeds. "We'll be lucky to be only 4-0 down at half time."

Now admittedly I didn't travel to Elland Road. A four hours plus bus journey was beyond me,
instead I accompanied my housemate to the SU bar to watch Liverpool take on Inter Milan.

On getting home, after a rather dull (for a non-Liverpool fan) second leg, I suddenly remembered that Cheltenham had played Leeds today. I chastised myself for being a rubbish supporter, then, as my computer was at the time very much on the blink, got my phone out, and found the BBC Sport website....

So I scrolled down the list of results, thinking "I wonder how many we lost by?", fearing the Leeds backlash. And then I got to the score...

"Leeds United 1-2 Cheltenham Town".

"Surely that must be a misprint. Surely the 1 must mean 7 or something. Cheltenham surely couldn't have done the double over Leeds? Even Manchester United struggled to do that!", I thought to myself.

I found the whole thing rather amusing. How could Cheltenham go from being outplayed by a rather average Yeovil side, to beating a team which only seven years ago was beating AC Milan and the like in the Champions League, in their own backyard. Leeds losing at Whaddon Road, although still shocking, is partly excusable. Games like that are more difficult than you think, with the crowd close to the pitch, the tight atmosphere, and the players playing as if their lives depended on it.

I had presumed that it was a case of Leeds outplay Cheltenham, Cheltenham get two on the counter attack, then Leeds, after battering Cheltenham, get a goal but Cheltenham defend heroically and sneak the win. Not so according to various sources. Apparently, Cheltenham had been much the better side, and could have won by a higher margin than 2-1.

Yesterday I had the "privilege" of watching the highlights on Virgin Media. The same Virgin Media who once managed to include two commentaries during the same match. The Cheltenham-Leeds highlights didn't feature such an interesting experiment, but did have one of the most bored sounding commentators ever. Most of the highlights seemed to consist of Leeds shooting over the bar, with Cheltenham's goals being squeezed in. Pick of the two was
a curler from Alex Russell from the corner of the penalty area.

Leeds fans meanwhile bemoaned the "darkest day in the clubs history", while Cheltenham prepare for a local derby against Bristol Rovers, relaxed after a day at the races.

JAMES LEWIS

Overview: The Western Rising

Football in the south-west has never had the status and importance of that in other parts of the country. The Westcountry has eight professional football teams, yet none has ever won a major honour. The most successful, Bristol City, experienced their heyday a century ago with runners-up medals in League and Cup, but as recently as 2004 only they and my beloved Plymouth Argyle could even boast third-tier status.

Now things are changing. Argyle won the old Division Two that year and were finally followed into the Championship last season by City. The Ashton Gate outfit have been a revelation, with quick passing football and a formidable home record propelling them to the league’s summit. Most pundits seemed sure they would fall away eventually, but Gary Johnson has made remarkable consistency the trademark of a club which always used to choke when it really mattered. Argyle, much to my delight, are pushing hard for a playoff spot and it is not inconceivable that the Match of the Day cameras could be covering a pair of Westcountry derbies next season.

For Plymouth, the second-largest city in Europe (after Hull) never to have a top-flight team, it’d be a first. Of course, for those raised on the self-preserving Premier League elite, this seems absurd. But Bristol is the seventh-largest city in England, and Plymouth has a larger population than Derby, Portsmouth, and Blackburn to name just three. Both have huge catchment areas which could clearly support top clubs.

And these are not the only two south-western teams on the up. Swindon Town and Bristol Rovers both won promotion last season to join Yeovil Town, and of course Cheltenham Town, in League One. All four should retain their status this year, enabling them to push on afterwards. Cheltenham have risen from utter obscurity a decade ago to challenge Gloucester Rugby for public and media attention in this area.

Rovers have delighted football romantics nation-wide with their FA Cup adventure, with giant-slaying wins over Fulham and Southampton giving them a quarter-final clash with West Bromwich Albion on Sunday. It’ll be tough – the Baggies are the best side I’ve seen in the Championship this term – but with a raucous Memorial Stadium behind them and goalscoring threats Ricky Lambert and Craig Disley in the side, they have a real chance.

Further down, Exeter City, Forest Green Rovers and Torquay United are all vying for elevation from the Blue Square Premier, the Devon sides hoping for a return to their traditional fourth-tier level, and Rovers aiming to become the smallest club ever to play in the football league. Anomaly of the season, though, must be the fact that promotion could actually impact negatively on the finances of these clubs. Fifth-tier sides, now given ample television coverage by Setanta, receive excellent broadcast revenue, and greater media exposure than those in League Two. Added to the dent in attendance figures from a likely season in the middle or the lower reaches of the table, as opposed to a play-off race, and you can see why some have darkly suggested it might be better if Torquay and co remain where they are.

Look out, too, for Truro City. The ‘White Tigers’ from the Cornish capital are backed by millionaire property developer Kevin Heaney, who aims to give the peninsula a league side by 2017. They won the FA Vase at Wembley in May in front of an astonishing crowd of 27,754, and stormed Western League Division One last year, winning 37 of their 42 games and scoring 185 goals. Striker Stewart Yetton (formerly of Plymouth) bagged 72 himself, as well as 36 so far this season, and is a prime example of City’s successful policy of cherry-picking the best players from non-league and professional reserve sides in the area. Truro were installed as 2-7 favourites to win the 2007-8 Western Premier and have not disappointed, currently sitting five points clear. Next season they should go up to Southern League Division One, with four additional promotions needed to realise Heaney’s dream.

RICH PARTINGTON

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

Swindon eye Forest double

Just five points adrift now from a play-off position and Swindon Town are gearing up to seize three more away to Nottingham Forest this Saturday.A fantastic 3-0 win over Cheltenham on Tuesday, and a 2-1 victory over Forest last month means that there is no reason why history cannot be repeated.

Lee Peacock said: "If we apply ourselves we have a chance. It is a fantastic stadium and if we apply ourselves like we did at Leeds we will be alright.

"We will be good for a point at least. We need to compete with the likes of Forest away if we are to be a contender for the play-offs.

"When we are going away to the teams at the basement we also have to be turning them into wins."

Maurice Malpas is also optimistic that the quest for the play-offs is realistic and that the odds can be defied.

He said: "There is no way I will set up in a negative way. We are going for three points and if we only get a draw then we will take a point.

"It is far more important we get wins away from home as opposed to hoping for draws by being negative.

"We know it will be a difficult game but I think the pressure is on Nottingham Forest. They are expected to beat us.

"I am a typical Scotsman and we will go up there and upset the odds."

The Cheltenham game on Tuesday started off dismally, the weekend hurt against Huddersfield still raw after the end of our nine game unbeaten run. For the first 15 minutes, Cheltenham fought full possession of the ball, and lacklustre defending from Swindon nearly cost us dearly. Nerves were probable here. And there was good reason for Billy Paynter to be nervous, who warned to watch out old pal Steve Brooker, on loan to Cheltenham from Bristol City.

However, it was a delight to see Simon Cox netting in the 20th minute, his first goal at home since his signing – kicking from close range after Cheltenham sacrificed the ball. A lazy goal one might argue, but a typical good striker’s goal – being simply in the right place at the right time. Twenty minutes later, Paynter sent Swindon 2-0 up.

In the second half, Swindon finally displayed consistent levels of brilliance. Towards the end of the game, Christian Roberts came off the bench to secure Swindon's win from the left side of penalty area. After being 3-0 up, Cox was replaced by Blair Sturrock and enjoyed a rapturous applause as he came off.

Anthony McNamee also stood out for me as man of the match. The game ended with a fine 3-0 result and a fine three points. Swindon are now currently five points behind sixth-placed Tranmere. I finish off by wishing the very best of luck to Swindon tomorrow. Who knows, the play-offs could be waiting for us.

NEIL ROBINSON

Cheltenham's away form deserts them again

Cheltenham failed to follow on from their Manchester United style 2-1 win against Brighton, in which they scored twice in injury time, as they were comprehensively beaten 3-0 by Swindon at the County Ground.

Despite a bright start, in which Steve Brooker missed two good chances, and Dave Bird hit a post, the game changed when the usually reliable Alex Russell misplaced a pass. Sadly, this was in his own penalty area, and after the mix up, Simon Cox put Swindon ahead. Russell then seemed to think Cheltenham were still playing in red, as he hit dozens of passes to gleeful Swindon players, as Cheltenham got themselves in a muddle.

Thankfully the County Ground was a lot drier than the last time I visited, but still slightly cold, and Cheltenham's day got worse following yet another mix up, as again they tried to pass it out of the box. This time Billy Paynter was the recipient, scoring Swindon’s second, which was followed a bizarre celebration as Paynter pulled captain Hasney Aljofree's shorts down in front of a slightly bemused crowd.

While Cheltenham couldn't have been faulted for determination, Steven Gillespie especially, the killer touch was lacking, and any hopes of a comeback were dashed when Christian Roberts scored with practically his first touch after coming on. A good first touch it was too, firing an angled shot into the bottom left hand corner from long range.

So not as good a day as Cheltenham's last trip to the County Ground, and they'll need to pick themselves up for the game against Hartlepool on Saturday.

Meanwhile a good set of results for Forest Green's play off hopes meant nothing as they could only draw with Stevenage, although that in itself is a credible result. Rovers remain four points off top five, and still have to go to Cambridge.

JAMES LEWIS

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

Same old story for Cheltenham

Even having only followed the fortunes, or misfortunes of Cheltenham Town for just over a year, their lack of luck in the transfer market is already starting to get on my nerves. Players reject loan moves due to our obscurity (Phil Jevons), and we also have to contend with Blue Square Premier clubs valuing their players in excess of £250K. Maybe in the case of Forest Green goal machine Stuart Fleetwood, the valuation isn't too excessive but Jamie Mackie? I'd never heard of him until I heard of Cheltenham's interest.

A quick check on Wikipedia told me he'd got three goals since 2005. Thankfully this seems to be wrong information, although in any case, Plymouth Argyle, now with a fresh £1.5M from the sale of Dan Gosling to Everton, have the cash to splash about so £250K will seem like nothing to them. However a move for Bristol City striker Steve Brooker looks to be on the cards, and if he has as much as an affect as Dean Sinclair did, I'll be delighted.

On the football side of things, Cheltenham won a crucial game against bottom club Port Vale 1-0, with Paul Connor getting the goal. Barring a miracle, Vale look doomed, well adrift of 20th place. Cheltenham are still five points behind, with another six pointer against Bournemouth to come on Saturday. Robins fans will be hopeful of a repeat of their last gasp 1-0 win almost a year ago.

The relegation battle looks as intriguing as it did last year, with Luton having been dragged into it by their points deduction, and Bristol Rovers anxiously looking over their shoulders. Statistically speaking, Cheltenham are in almost exactly the same position as they were last season, which should serve to encourage, as they ended up surviving quite comfortably last time around.

Meanwhile, chairman Paul Baker has put forward plans to either expand Whaddon Road, or move stadiums. While Whaddon Road is a lovely, old-fashioned, typical lower league football ground, most people (especially away fans) will admit that its location is obscure to say the least. If I didn't live a stone's throw away I'd struggle to find it without a very good map.
So apart from the lack of luck in the transfer window, things seem to be looking up for the Robins.

JAMES LEWIS

Cheltenham's greatest ever result?

As the Mastercard advert goes: Ticket-£13, programme-£2.50…watching Gillespie score with five minutes to go in front of the C&G Stand – priceless!

This was one of the biggest, if not the biggest game in Cheltenham’s history. Certainly the biggest I’d ever attended. The game was moved to Sunday, I heard, not due to being on television, or international reasons, the real reason was…..it clashed with the turning on with the Christmas lights. Cheltenham versus Leeds or Richard Fleeshman- I certainly know which one I’d choose!

Tickets sold out almost instantly, meaning Whaddon Road had the second biggest crowd in its Football League history, second only to the 2002 play off semi-final against Hartlepool. It was such that the club urged fans not to turn up after 1:30pm to this 2pm kick off.

Leeds, meanwhile, were confident. Dennis Wise had pointed out that Cheltenham were in dire straits, and Eddie Gray concluded that the Robins were probably the worst team he’d ever seen play, and the game should be one of the easier ones in Leeds’ League 1 season. How wrong he’d turn out to be…..

Before kick off, the general view around the ground was not whether Leeds would win, but how many they’d win by. As fans piled into the ground, and Leeds fans attempted to disguise themselves as Cheltenham fans, apprehension grew, and I counted a couple of famous and semi-famous faces, such as Flo, Prutton, Kandol and Beckford.

The Robins meanwhile had debutants on the bench. Guy Madjo, the loan signing from Crawley, and somebody called Michael D’Agostino. Despite having D’Agostino, a winger available, Keith Downing still decided to continue with the very frustrating Damien Spencer on the left side.

From the off, Leeds attacked. And continued to attack throughout the first half. At this stage I was trying to remember how long it took us to concede in the recent game against Nottingham Forest. It was, I remembered, about 10 minutes. When 15 minutes passed with no goals, I began to grow slightly optimistic.

I was reminded of cup games against superior opposition on Football Manager where I’d count down the minutes in order to hold onto the 0-0. As it got to half time, I began to feel that it could be one of those games where Leeds dominate but somehow fail to score.

It certainly helped that the Cheltenham players were defending as if their lives depended on it. It made me wonder why they couldn’t defend like this against teams like Walsall and Port Vale, who have a much less talented strikeforce than Jermaine Beckford and Tresor Kandol, with Tore Andre Flo as backup.

However our defending led Dennis Wise to panic, and Leeds launched a full on assault on the Cheltenham goal, playing a 3-3-4 formation, with De Vries and Flo coming on for Prutton and Parker, and Westlake coming onto Kandol. With quarter of an hour left. Leeds won a free kick in a dangerous position. Captain Jonathan Douglas placed the ball. Cheltenham set up what looked suspiciously like two separate walls, Douglas shot, Shane Higgs palmed it away, and Beckford smashed it into the net.

The Leeds fans went wild, and the Cheltenham fans accepted the inevitable. Just then I heard cheering behind me. "Oh must be a Leeds fan in our end" I thought. But I looked behind me and recognised him as someone who I’d seen cheering on Cheltenham a few minutes ago. So why was he cheering what looked like a Leeds winner? Then suddenly it dawned on me. It was offside! There was a moment of great amusement as the Leeds fans continued to celebrate as though they’d just won the Champions League, until the fact they hadn’t scored suddenly dawned on them.

With about ten minutes to go, a pivotal moment in the game took place. Madjo, who had just replaced Connolly, raced to beat David Lucas for the ball, resulting in a rather nasty collision. Leeds players rushed to the injured keeper, and it didn’t look good. Leeds had at this point made all three substitutions, and Lucas was their third choice keeper.

I admit I felt rather worried for him, as the urgency in which the Leeds players summoned the referee suggested this was no ordinary injury. Fortunately, he got up, though he definitely wasn’t 100% fit. And so it was that a mistake by the injured Lucas led to the only goal of the game.

A rare attack from the Robins resulted in a long ball. Lucas decided to header it, not out for a throw, but straight in front of him. A gleeful Steven Gillespie saw the open goal, chipped the ball, and…Surely it couldn’t go in? Surely Cheltenham couldn’t be taking the lead against Leeds United? It can’t be allowed! Surely the ball would bounce harmlessly over. But no…the ball was in the net! Cheltenham fans jumped for joy, and began the countdown to full time.

After four agonising additional minutes, the referee blew the whistle, and Cheltenham celebrated one of their greatest ever results. How apt that it was a scouser who robbed the points from the league leaders. To put the brilliance of the result into perspective…this was only Leeds’ second defeat of the season, the first of which came against high-flying Carlisle. We were also the first team in the league to keep a clean sheet against Leeds, not counting Hereford in the F.A Cup. Meanwhile we had only won twice before this game, at home to Gillingham and away to Huddersfield.

Next up for Cheltenham is the short trip to the Memorial Stadium to play Bristol Rovers in this weekend’s big westcountry derby. Rovers have a number of players out injured, and their home form has been rather woeful. A jubilant Robins should be confident of getting a result.

JAMES LEWIS