David Cameron Walker

Archive for the ‘Cheltenham Town’ Category

Can someone remind us how to celebrate?

Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012

No really, we’ve forgotten. It’s been over 8 hours and since March 3rd since we last had that celebratory feeling when Daryll Duffy gave us the lead at Morecambe so very long ago. Ever since then Cheltenham Town have hit a torrid run of form, and the fears are it’s here to stay.

Looking back, my blog posts have been nothing short of optimism and delight, for supporting the Rubies this seaosn has been a fantastic experience, up until March anyway. Mark Yates has done an incredible job in constantly defying the bookies, winning games “we shouldn’t be winning” and topping the league. The majority of the season we’ve led comfortably in the top 3 or at least the play-offs. So where has it all gone wrong?

The fixture calendar dealt us a huge test with the month of March and from as far away as December us fans had pin pointed it as the month that will define whether we are good enough to go up or not, sadly it seems the latter occurs. Just a solitary point was gained in the whole month and coupled with a run of simply no luck, profligate finishing and some dire quality has led to all our promotion rivals gaining the upper had on ourselves. From being 6 points into the top 3 and 15 points into the play offs at one stage we now lie just 3 points ahead of Crewe (what should’ve been 1 if it wasn’t for some last gasp goalkeeping heroics from a debutant Northampton Goalkeeper, thanks for that!)

Daryll Duffy’s goal gave us a deserved lead at Morecambe back on March 3rd but having let slip a sloppy equaliser to Kevin Ellison there only looked like being one winner. Morecambe attacked with vigour and purpose and thoroughly deserved their win. No worries, we only had Swindon at the County Ground lying next. What was ironically one of the finer displays of March still yielded no points or goals. Duffy, the lone striker once again, was guilty of missing 4 guilt edged chances including a penalty which Wes Foderingham saved impressively. Paul Benson, however, had 2 chances all game. He scored one and forced Butland into a fine save for the other, there was the difference. An impressive display desperately unlucky to gain nothing but at this stage of the season it’s a results based business.

Gillingham at home looked like it couldn’t come at a better time. A team who had so many injuries and suspensions they could field a whole team of them, and have one left over. It was a great chance to react and show the home faithful the blip was a minor one. Oh how it went oh so wrong. Yates confirmed the thoughts on the terraces post match: “that was the worst performance of the season by a country mile”. It was dire and we lacked heart, passion, fight and most importantly we were devoid of any quality. Enough said!

Things were looking up though, we only had Shrewsbury away 3 days later – hopefully you detected the sarcasm there. The Shrews had just passed the milestone of going a year unbeaten at home and considering some of the positions they’d gotten themselves out of that was even more impressive. Crawley and Oxford in particular will look back and wonder how they didn’t win at the Greenhous Meadow. The cries from the 400 travelling army from Cheltenham was to just keep it tight and give ourselves every chance. You could understand our joy that we were breached after just 43 seconds by Nicky Wroe! More sarcasm by the way. Despite another display that showed signs of quality the tactic of 1 up front was fast fading from a stroke of early season genius to an over used tactic that every manager in the league had figured out. Changes were needed and the lack of chances created that day proved that.

Cue two loan signings just 48 hours later, both strikers, both from League 1 clubs. Ben Burgess and Steve MaClean came to Cheltenham with pedigree from higher divisions and their differing qualities gave Cheltenham fans cause to be optimistic. The return to 4-4-2 for the visit of play-off and local rivals Oxford pleased the home faithful further. The game itself once again proved fruitless but a display that showed far more heart, quality and endeavour than the previous home one left Mark Yates and the fans wondering quite how Cheltenham didn’t not only win, but win by a comfortable margin, even Chris Wilder admitted so. So we’d turned a corner then, the goal was around the corner? Wrong again!

A month of crazy twists and turns led to Cheltenhams heaviest defeat of the season. The Rubies outplayed Southend at home in early December and with yet virtually the same team this encounter could not have been anymore different. Granted Sido Jombati’s early red card didn’t help proceedings but this was a game Southend only ever looked like winning, and winning at a canter.

Freddy Eastwood’s homecoming after 5 years was a delightful one for the Essex club, he along with 3 others gave the Seaside club the easiest win they could imagine and the 160 travellers leaving for the long cross country journey home wondering what an earth they’d just witnessed. Jack Butland had a game he’ll never forget conceding 3 goals normally he’d save with consumate ease. The team hid away after Sido’s red card Yates claimed, he was right.

It leaves Cheltenham in a position still in their own hands but with ourselves and Crewe both going opposite directions many Ruby fans believe we’ve already blown it. A small squad seems burnt out, struggling for ideas and having the same sinking anti-climactic last season.

Barnet at home lie in store next in what simply must be a Good Friday for Cheltenham. One things for sure, we don’t care how we do it, we just want a goal to celebrate.

Written by Maxi Hobbs, We Are Going Up’s Cheltenham Town Blogger

Maxi tweets at @maxihobbs

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What defines a successful season?

Monday, March 19th, 2012

So what exactly defines a successful season? That is the current question that has enraged debate between Cheltenham Town fans after a run of games which has seen the club pick up just 1 point from a potential 12 and, since the Tottenham FA Cup game, win just 4 in 13 games.

Rewind back to August and Cheltenham Town were relegation favourites with the usual suspects, Macclesfield, Hereford, Barnet and the like. Therefore in that sense, what a season we’re having. Take away the recent dreadful run and we’ve been living the dream in reality. On the flip side the other fan rightly states that the club has led the league at points this season, been in the top 3 for the majority of the season and been as far as 15 points into the play-offs at any one time, so it is therefore unacceptable if the club now fails to finish inside the top 7. A very realistic possibility at present.

I spoke earlier in the season about the C word, consistency. At present we have that in abundance, but sadly with games going against us. A certain section of fans have been very quick to turn on Mark Yates. Shouts from the terraces on Saturday (a dire 3-0 defeat to Gillingham) led to Yates being branded “a bottler”, “someone who can only last half a season” and someone with “no plan B”. These fans seem to forget very quickly the achievements we have made and the progress we have made. However, they have every right to shout don’t they as the performance was unacceptable, the tactics were wrong and we were dire beyond belief? All these questions are swirling around the heads of Cheltenham fans and with there being no right or wrong answer fans are having to agree to disagree as we continue through the typical rollercoaster that is Cheltenham Town FC.

Ruby fans all knew, and feared the month of March, for the fixture computer dealt us a heavy blow playing teams all with ambitions of League One football next season. We did ourselves proud at Swindon, just forgetting to hit the net. We were utterly humiliated and embarrassed at home to Gillingham, our worst display of the season by a country mile. Shrewsbury, Oxford and Southend lie ahead next in a run of games that will surely define our season.

Clubs usually wish for steady progression. If you stick to this, the only way is up surely? However, our progression this season has been rapid beyond belief to the extent that even the most positive Cheltenham fan has been pinching themselves this season. Did we peak too early or is this a blip that will be ovecome with 9 games still to play?. We got to a stage where we’ve simply been awaiting this bad run and now it’s here fans seem to be unable to accept it. Players don’t become bad overnight. Remember the old adage “form is temporary, class is permanent”.

There inlies the question, what exactly does make a successful season for us Rubies? It seems every single fan has a different opinion on this matter. Some would still be more than content with a top half finish, others deem that utterly unacceptable stating our season has been so good, why should it be thrown away due to a second half season collapse (something we’re more than familar with here). Maybe the best answer lies in the hands of the neutrals… so what do you think?

Written by Maxi Hobbs, We Are Going Up’s Cheltenham Town Blogger

Maxi tweets at @maxihobbs

 

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The Ruby Wagon marches on

Monday, January 30th, 2012

What a season this is turning out to be. For the Ruby Cheltonians the 125th anniversary season couldn’t have gone better thus far at least. Another eventful, yet ultimately successful month ends with Cheltenham Town now TOP of League Two for the first time in 12 years. Couple that with a day out to remember at Tottenham Hotspur and months don’t get much more eventful than this one.

There had been whispers of the wheels coming off however. Performances had dropped slightly, yet our ability to still grind out results in the majority of those matches points to a sign of champions right? The performances against Port Vale, Aldershot and Bristol Rovers were far from the swift, stylish best that Cheltenham have to offer but the return of 6 points was a healthy one considering.

2012 began with a trip to Port Vale who Cheltenham brushed aside at Whaddon Road back in Autumn. This was a different test though and the Valiants, for the first half in particular gave Cheltenham as good as they had and were perhaps unlucky not to have scored through the ever present Marc Richards. However, Cheltenham made their quality show and were rewarded when captain Alan Bennett stooped to head home from Marlon Pack’s free kick. Junior Smikle sealed the deal late on with a neat chip and despite Port Vale’s resilience to pull one back the defence, once again never surrendered, and the Rubies started the year as they ended the previous. Winning.

Then came the special day out, and what a day. Every one of the 5,500 Ruby fans had their own special story to tell. Mine beginning on the 8.59 to Paddington, through Liverpool Street and onwards to White (sorry Ruby) Hart Lane for kick-off, already more than half cut! The game unfortunately didn’t show the magic of the cup with Tottenham in truth coasting to an easy 3-0 win. However, we did ourselves proud and the celebrations of the day out continued long into the night leaving thousands of heavy heads the following Sunday. It has been confirmed since that the Spurs game alone had funded our new signing (Jermaine McGlashan) who has already shown real promise on the wings. Baker and Yates have claimed there is more to come with a potential return for young starlet Jack Butland and maybe more. Thanks for the memories Tottenham, it was quite a day and the funds now allow a solid financial foundation to be built. It’s why we love the cup.

Bouncebackability was therefore the order of the day when Aldershot came to town and funnily enough McGlashan turned in a man of the match display for the away side but their inability to find the back of the net was shown up big time here. Neat build up play but fruitless in the final third meant we eventually picked the Shots off despite not finding our feet at all for the majority of the game. Luke Summerfield’s blockbuster gave the Rubies a lead they barely deserved and we had to wait until stoppage time for the ever present enigma Mohamed to finish off a lethal counter attack emphatically to seal another win. Little did we know the opposition’s best player would later sign for the Rubies later that week! Funny old game.

New manager syndrome was the buzz word in town the following week with Bristol Rovers appointing Mark McGhee mid week. We knew what was coming, we were due a bad day and here it came! Once again, Cheltenham struggled to get going and the Gas had clearly done their homework. Proving difficult to break down all game and then 3 crazy 2nd half minutes handed the points to Rovers with Zebroski and Richards the goalscorers as Cheltenham lost the plot for 5 minutes. That was all it took. In truth Cheltenham never tested Poke in goal and the strong travelling army sang loud and proud down the streets of Cheltenham. I zipped off home as quick as possible and hit the drink… It’s days like that you want to forget and after Saturday’s display at Macclesfield that is now thankfully long forgotten!

With Crawley and Southend out of action only a point was needed for the Rubies to hit the summit for the first time in 12 years! We did it, the hard way, but we did it! Marcus Marshall’s (did it cross the line?!) opener had the travelling Rubies scared a possible double defeat was on the cards for the first time this season. Thankfully Sido Jombati stabbed Cheltenham level and 1-1 at half time was a scoreline most were relieved with. For much of the season Cheltenham have simply upped the gears in the second half to blow teams away, yesterday was a classic example. Jermaine McGlashan and Kaid Mohamed were electric on both wings and Jeff Goulding showed brilliant striker touch to fire Cheltenham in front. Luke Garbutt’s first ever professional goal sealed the points and Cheltenham were in dreamland. WE ARE TOP.

We may go into the next game 2nd again if Southend beat Swindon in a big promotion clash on Tuesday but once again Cheltenham showed resilience of the highest order, boucebackability was once again achieved and as we enter February we are in a position that we could only have dreamt of after last April’s 8-1 loss at Crewe.

Mark Yates, hat’s off Sir.

Written by Maxi Hobbs, We Are Going Up’s Cheltenham Town Blogger

Maxi tweets at @maxihobbs

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Talk about a game of two halves

Sunday, January 1st, 2012

That’s how the old adage goes isn’t it? For Cheltenham Town 2011 has without doubt been a year of 2 halves, a quite bizarre turn of events from this very day last year. Our yearly record is a very modestly average Played 54 Won 22 Drawn 11 Lost 21. However, the story is a slightly more bizarre one. If you split this into their various seasons between January-May then August-December you get this:

January to May: Played 26 Won 5 Drawn 7 Lost 14

August to present day: Played 28 Won 17 Drawn 4 Lost 7

Could you ask for a bigger swing? So what’s changed? Going by the team line-ups, on New Year’s Day of this year just 3 of the line-up remain in first team contention. Another overhaul in the summer of 2011 was needed (not quite so to the extent of the season before but still necessary); there was a basis there but this needed building on, and how Mark Yates has so far succeeded.

My monthly updates are starting to become a tedious love-in for Gloucestershire’s only Football League club, but as I stated a month ago, When times are good, SHOUT; we still are don’t worry about that. Not only that but we have one of the most exciting days in our history to look forward to on January 7th 2012. A day that will live long in the memory of all Cheltenham Town fans no matter what the scoreline, for the scoreboard at White Hart Lane (or as us Chelties have decided to rename it due to the hefty nature of the away support, Ruby Hart Lane (see Twitter #rubyhartlane!)) will show the visitors as being Cheltenham Town. After winning impressively at Tranmere, we eventually negated our way past an impressive Luton side at Kenilworth Road who never gave in. Thankfully, our quality shone but Luton can proudly boast to being one of Cheltenham’s sternest opponents all season, proving just how tough the Blue Square Premier is to get out of. Having led twice, Aaron O’Connor twice levelled for the home side only for 2 of Cheltenham’s midfield trio to strike and seal the Hatter’s fate. Luke Summerfield scoring a measured effort from the edge of the box and Russ Penn bagged his first Cheltenham goal having stepped away from his man before curling into the top corner. The draw awaited, and we got our reward.

After the draw for the FA Cup 3rd round was made obviously all eyes went straight onto planning the day, or even weekend out. However, the players and management had to immediately switch focus to the following game; a blockbuster home clash with the then league leaders Southend. A true test to how far Cheltenham had come, could we match the big boys? You bet. Yet another scintillating display of pass and move had the Cheltenham faithful purring and the eventual final score of 3-0 was thoroughly deserved. Key players such as Marlon Pack, Daryll Duffy, Jack Butland and Sido Jombati, already writing themselves into Cheltenham folklore with many fans believing the current squad as a whole being the best we’ve ever had in terms of quality.

Can we keep them all together in January? This remains to be seen. With success comes interest and there is no doubt scouts from clubs in the three higher divisions will be sniffing around our prized assets however the current squad togetherness seems at an all time high. With the winning nature and mentality of this squad only silly money or a big club could tempt our stars away.

After winning manager of the month in November, Cheltenham fans were all too aware of the curse that followed… not this time. Another unbeaten month with 3 wins and 2 draws in all have lead the Rubies to just 3 points off the summit and already 5 points INTO the automatic promotion spots and even more impressively 9 points into the play-offs.

Mark Yates has also moved quickly to sign impressive loanees Jimmy Spencer and Luke Garbutt on extended deals and the jury remains out on whether England U21 goalkeeper Jack Butland will return. There will no doubt be business in January, not excessive, but the sending out of fringe players on loan seems inevitable, and the inclusion of maybe 2 more new faces could be on the agenda but providing this squad remains together and untouched come February 1st, the sky’s the limit and the unthinkable, may just become a real possibility.

Who knows, by the time the next post comes along Cheltenham could well be in the hat for the 4th round of the FA Cup… Okay, getting ahead of ourselves a bit, but what’s that about the magic of the FA Cup?

Written by Maxi Hobbs, We Are Going Up’s Cheltenham Town Blogger

Maxi tweets at @maxihobbs

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When times are good, SHOUT

Thursday, December 1st, 2011

It’s been a month to the day since I ranted joyfully about the happenings at Whaddon Road and I must admit I expected a downturn in form, my post proving somewhat of a curse after praising Cheltenham Town to the bitter core – in fact it has done completely the opposite!

I will no doubt be one of the Football League’s most positive bloggers around at present. Whilst fans of Northampton, Chesterfield and Doncaster will rant about their woes and tales of hatred and heartache on a Saturday afternoon, at Cheltenham we are cruising along beautifully and have now spent over a couple of weeks in the top three, it’s ever so nice up here!

A quick glance at the fixtures for November proved the Robins had a difficult but ultimately decent set of fixtures to play with. Home games against Barnet in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy and Port Vale saw Cheltenham play to teams struggling to find any sort of form, while away games at Bradford City, Oxford United and Tranmere Rovers in the FA Cup were classic examples of “if we could nick the first goal, the home fans would get on the backs of the home players.”

In each of those three away games Cheltenham did nick an early goal, in fact before the clock hit 3.10pm in all of these fixtures Cheltenham led 1-0 and in all of these fixtures the lead was never relinquished, the only goal conceded a quite wonderful free-kick from Oxford’s Peter Leven. At Bradford Kaid Mohamed struck in the eighth minute, at Tranmere Daryll Duffy’s solitary penalty won the game in Birkenhead and at Oxford Sido Jombati’s cross-cum-shot found the corner to help Cheltenham onto a 3-1 win at the Kassam Stadium.

The home games come with a bigger weight of expectation, but against Port Vale, patietience was a virtue as Mark Yates’ side eventually saw the Valiants off 2-0 in one of the most comfortable wins of the season. Unfortunately, even at Cheltenham, things can go wrong and the manager’s decision to tinker with the team for the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy game at home to Barnet backfired miserably with a dire display, devoid of any quality – the fringe players had the chance to stake a claim, none of them did. However, that defeat is long forgotten now and although a potential trip to Wembley was lost, no league points or places were.

For the statto’s that leaves Town already 8 points into the play-off zone, just 4 points from the summit. It leaves the Rubies with 10 wins in 12, 7 away wins on the bounce and the last draw, a 0-0 stalemate with Hereford, seems an absolute lifetime away.

It all sets itself up quite nicely for a possible Cupset this weekend. Luton Town are the opposition and funnily enough, when most fans watch the draw unfold they are baying for the home fixture, yet at Whaddon Road the news of an away draw was greeted with smiles, times are that bizarre! The tie is ultimately winnable, but a definate banana skin. Luton have already dumped out League Two Northampton (although Cobblers fans will hardly call that an achievement) and they have also dispatched of higher league opposition in recent seasons so the Ruby players need to keep their professional heads on this weekend.

They are no doubt their own worst enemies. The prize of a win – not just financially – could be huge, on the other hand it could throw up a miserable trip to Ipswich or Hull in the next round. All Ruby fans will tell of how the club are due a good cup draw and if Luton can be surpassed, could it be their year?

Cheltenham’s finest hour in recent history came in 2006. A team of hungry players who possessed plenty of quality, togetherness and a will to win from bizarre positions. That season saw the club win promotion to League One via the play-offs and gain a moneyspinning cup draw at home to Newcastle United – their biggest fixture to date – shown live on the BBC. This season there are stark similiarities to that season and many believe this squad possesses even more quality.

The Robins have crept quietly up the league so far but now teams are starting to take notice. Heck, let’s enjoy this brilliant time to be a fan of Cheltenham Town and SHOUT ’til our hearts content. It’s bound to end soon, right?

Written by Maxi Hobbs, We Are Going Up’s Cheltenham Town Blogger

Maxi tweets at @maxihobbs

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Pinch yourselves, it’s happening

Sunday, October 30th, 2011

Cheltenham fans, embrace these days, for it’s not often you’ll see us in the lofty heights of the play-offs. 6 wins in 7, yes SIX in SEVEN, 5 wins on the bounce, with 4 of those coming away from home. It’s numbers and facts like these that gives all Chelties some of the broadest smiles in the country, even more so after 5 consecutive years in the doldrums of relegation scraps.

The last 7 games have produced a real mixed bag of performances, some classy goals and tactical masterstrokes from Messers Yates and Howarth. All this remarkably comes on the back of another failure against Hereford, as shown in my previous post. The run began with a tricky fixture in Bristol. Paul Buckle and his side certainly haven’t lived upto pre-season billing by any stretch of the imagination but with the quality possessed in that squad this fixture was still one we’d all be happy to escape with a point with.

Having been based in Bristol for 3 years myself at university, with my back garden merging onto the Memorial Ground, this game had added significance for myself and I managed to wrangle along many friends from university. By full time they were purring! Mark Yates decision to go 4-5-1 was questioned majorly pre-match; we were surely asking for trouble right? Wrong. The combination of Jimmy Spencer’s hold up play and the pace and quality from the two wingers Kaid Mohamed and Josh Low proved irrestibily devilish on the counter and Cheltenham led 3-0 by 50 minute and coasting. The game finished 3-1, and we’d gained some new fans along the way!

This was followed up with an equally classy display at League One Wycombe on the following Tuesday, a victory by the same scoreline in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, having rested a number of key players. Had we turned a corner? The home match against Dagenham was normally one we’d struggle with, for Cheltenham and the ‘favourites’ tag do NOT mix well.

This fear was dispelled however with a 2-1 home win, which probably should have been far more. The choice to go 4-5-1 at home was a bold one, but for this game at least it paid off. This led the Town onto a Friday night trip to Burton. Two teams in real form, two teams level on points before kick-off. Burton had scored in every game so far this season, they hadn’t lost at home… however, once we were finished with them that had all changed. A tight first half which proved very even left the game goalless, however, once the second half commenced the Rubies stepped up a few gears and the hosts simply couldn’t handle the counter-attacking genius just like Bristol Rovers and Wycombe. Josh Low and Jimmy Spencer were the goalscorers and somehow, after the most dire of 0-0 draws to Hereford, Cheltenham had won FOUR on the bounce, the first time since January 2008.

A tricky Friday night trip at Accrington yielded a further 3 points, albeit this win was far more ugly than the rest. Jeff Goulding’s sublime lob, with virtually his first action of the game was enough to seal the points, and, overnight at least Cheltenham were 3rd. Can we not just end the season now?

Sadly the more games we were winning the more inevitbale it felt we’d lose the next game and along came Crewe. I found out just before the game the Railwaymen hadn’t won a Tuesday night away game in TWO whole years… you knew what was coming. Despite a first half display of real quality Crewe snatched the win with a penalty conceded by, ironically, one of our best players on the night Sido Jombati.

The home game with Plymouth yesterday therefore was all about bouncebackability. Despite leaving it very, very late, Darryl Duffy was the Cheltenham hero with goals on 84 and 93 minutes to break poor old Plymouth’s hearts having led for much of the game. It was a deserved win despite a lacklustre first half display which was typified by Plymouth’s opening goal; an own goal that slowly trickled over the line!

Cheltenham currently remain in 5th, a position fans could hardly have imagined a few games back, but one that is fast becoming a reality. However, this season is a marathon and not a sprint and it only takes reminding of last season’s epic slide to make even the most optimisitic Cheltie that bit more cautious. Let’s not count our chickens, but at the same time, let’s embrace a brilliant run of results with some excellent football on show, that currently see us in a position to ‘enjoy’ those end of season play-offs!

Written by Maxi Hobbs, We Are Going Up’s Cheltenham Town Blogger

Maxi tweets at @maxihobbs

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The C Word

Sunday, October 2nd, 2011

It’s all about the C word. If you have this in abundance, you will more than likely ensure a successful season. Likewise if you struggle for it, then so will the team. The word I’m referring to is of course consistency… that elusive word that managers, players and fans alike strive for week in, week out. Consistency ultimately defines a team’s season, so how are Cheltenham doing in the C word stakes…?

The previous 7 days can sum this up quite nicely. Rewind a week and we welcomed our old foes Hereford United to Whaddon Road; a happy hunting ground for the Bulls for sure. As a club everyone has their “bogey teams” – teams the fans hate playing, teams that players play against with an added weight on their shoulders… And then there’s Hereford! Cheltenham haven’t recorded a home win over the Bulls since the 1960′s incredibly and have also NEVER beaten them in a Football League encounter, however this meeting was labelled (and rightly so) our best chance yet.

Hereford have been truly dire whilst the Rubies have shown real potential on numerous occasions this season, a home banker in many peoples eyes. However, as us Chelties know, there’s no such thing as a home banker and after a woeful first half devoid of any real quality the teams went in goalless. The second half begins and cue a 10-15 minute onslaught from the hosts which yielded real chances, but none taken. Eventually the game petered out and finished how it began, goalless. Cue (and ridiculously may I add) boos from a tiny minority of the home fans and glum faces from the home support, with Hereford happy with an away point and a clean sheet.

Fast forward to October 1st, and the 424 travelling army from Gloucestershire were treated to a clinical, classy 90 minutes in which Bristol Rovers weren’t far off from being outplayed on their own patch, giving Cheltenham their first win at the Memorial Ground in 5 years. Kaid Mohamed, who has had his own critics rightly of late, produced a devastating run and finish to open the scoring before two well worked corners resulted in goals for Luke Summerfield and James Spencer before a deflected consolation.

The result leaves Cheltenham in 11th with 17 points… a solid return from the opening set of games but what is the answer to remaining consistent? The last week has seen two completely different matches at the complete opposite ends of the spectrum. Most sets of fans claim that “if we play to our potential we’ll win this”… but how often do teams play to their true potential? Not enough in most cases, and if there was a simple answer most managers would’ve employed it surely.

The fact is if Cheltenham CAN remain injury free and CAN get that bit of luck there’s no reason why the assault for the top 7 cannot continue. Whereas this Sunday is a very happy one for all Cheltenham fans, last weeks dire draw still sticks in the memory and shows how good and bad we really can be… therefore for this reason I still believe the top 7 is just a push too far this season. Give us a top half finish now and we’ll snap your hands off!

However, if we can find the magical formula for the infamous C word, who knows…

Written by Maxi Hobbs, We Are Going Up’s Cheltenham Town Blogger

Maxi tweets at @maxihobbs

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Reasons to be cheerful

Tuesday, September 6th, 2011


Here we go again, another post full of blind optimism! It’s just like twelve months ago, and look how that ended (with a relegation dogfight for those of you less familiar with the works of Cheltenham Town). So how far have we come since this time in 2011? Let’s summarise…

This time last year we’d just come in off the back of a disappointing 3-1 loss at Barnet leaving us 12th in the table with 7 points from 5 games. This season we’re lying 11th after 6 games, on 9 points. We know we start seasons well, then come the turn of the year we fade away, so why should this season be any different?

The general feeling amongst the fans is that the football on offer is good, the players brought in are of a better calibre (which has shown with key substitutions) and the squad are very tight knit. Our bench in recent years has normally been filled with players who more often than not fail to change the final outcome of the game. A third choice or past it striker, a midfielder who cannot beat a full back, a defender whose no better than what we already have on… you get the drift. Therefore, it gives us Chelties great pleasure to see the likes of Luke Summerfield, Jimmy Spencer and Brian Smikle come off the bench with points to prove.

A classic example was our 3-2 win at Northampton. Josh Low’s average start to the season was frustrating for town fans, we know how good he is on his day. Yates did the right thing in dropping Low for the more dependable Summerfield. 2-1 down with half an hour to go Yates played his trump card along with the energetic (if anything else) Smikle. Low and behold (no pun intented), Josh came on to set up the equaliser for Daryll Duffy and then coolly slot in the winner in a fashion only he can. Hats off Mr Yates, that was, as they say, a masterstroke.

The performances have ranged from average (see Aldershot and Gillingham away) to brilliant (Crawley at home). Not one opposition manager (bar Steve Evans of course) has had a bad word to say about our football, all being complimentary, proving we have something in this squad. The table is still nothing to go by with many teams holding down false positions, but the feeling is this division, despite the bigger names, is really there for the taking. Personally my thoughts are that anyone who puts together a decent run and shows some consistency can make the top seven. Why shouldn’t that be the Rubies from Gloucestershire?

Many called for Mark Yates head towards the back end of last season but is this to be his magical season? The true answer to that question lies in how results pan out from January 2012 until the end of the season!

Written by Maxi Hobbs, We Are Going Up’s Cheltenham Town Blogger

Maxi tweets at @maxihobbs.

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Lets keep it simple

Wednesday, August 17th, 2011

So the dust has settled, the season is under way and already fans up and down the country are dreaming of title assaults or fearing a season of real struggle, such is the power of the opening few games.

Three rounds of Football League action, along with the 1st round of the Carling Cup, have been successfully negated and for Cheltenham Town fans the bag is of the mixed variety at present. 1 win and 3 losses on paper is a poor start, however through the eyes of the folk who have witnessed all 360 minutes the picture isn’t actually so bleak. I’m sure many of you are sick of reading the typically positive blogs, in which we all state our teams will “do well” or “defy the odds” (just like I did last time round) but after the 1-0 home win over Paulo Di Canio’s Swindon Town, fans around Whaddon Road have reason to smile again, despite last night’s gut wrenching last gasp defeat at home to Morecambe.

First and foremost it was only our 2nd home win of 2011, and our first Saturday home win since last winter so you can’t begrudge us that! Secondly, the manner of the win over Swindon was what pleased most. No it wasn’t free flowing, beautiful football; no the goal wasn’t a stunning 30 yarder, in fact it was the simplicity of it that we all loved. As a Cheltie, there is a long running joke of our inability to score from corners, it just never happens, no seriously, it really never does. Normally when a corner is awarded to us I’m more in fear of a counter attack from the defending team more than us scoring, so to see Steve Elliot thump an emphatic header past Paul Smith was greeted with a huge roar from the terrace, along with absolute shock!

The battling qualities the Rubies showed was imperative in victory that day, and could prove key throughout the season in the games where the hoof becomes more favourable than the more orthodox pass. We rode an early storm from the Wiltshire Robins who hammered in three early long rangers, one hitting the post, and De Vita was guilty of missing a pretty simple chance, however after this, the graft and grit shown all over the pitch was what won the day for Cheltenham. This quality was lacking last season – a youthful squad often became bullied in games and caved having gone behind. With this squad, you see leadership, you see determination, and although it wont always be pretty (when is it ever pretty in League Two anyway), it could well be effective in the points tally.

Last night Whaddon Road saw a totally different game, a game in which Cheltenham did produce some free flowing, lovely football. A game of real entertainment and quality at times, but one in which the Rubies just couldn’t score for love nor money. Low and behold, despite the quality of the football we came away with zilch (courtesy of what seemed a very dodgy referring decision which we shan’t dwell on or moan about)! Cheltenham passed the ball around comfortably, and had over 20 shots throughout the game, the midfield was bossed by Pack and Penn and the defence looked fairly comfortable during the whole 90 minutes. However, as is often the case when chances aren’t taken, the feeling of a sucker punch is rife on the terraces and after a skewed and scuffed by Jeff Goulding, Morecambe were gifted the chance of taking the lead, which they duly took. Despite Goulding atoning for his earlier error with a fine goal, Kevin Ellison chased down Russ Penn, robbed him (foul or no foul) and emphatically scored in the 92nd minute. Ouch.

So what have we learnt so far Town fans? Am I really justifying that we play more direct, “simple” football? Perhaps, however the balance of football we have witnessed in the opening four games has been pleasant; we’ve shown we can fight and graft out performances, as well as play some slick, “easy on the eye” football. Although they haven’t yet, if we continue in this vain the results will no doubt come. For now, let’s keep it simple and put the ball in the net when given the chance.

Written by Maxi Hobbs, We Are Going Up’s Cheltenham Town Blogger

Maxi tweets at @maxihobbs

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Ready to defy the odds?

Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011

A quick glance at the bookies odds once again confirms one thing; Cheltenham Town are set for the drop. In fact if you’re a firm believer in the bookies Cheltenham would’ve been relegated season after season and to a certain extent they have a point. For five seasons in a row now Cheltenham have been fighting at the wrong end of the table, three of those in League One. The Robins (or if we’re being accurate the Rubies for this anniversary season) according to Coral are the favourites to go down with odds of 11/4 at the time of writing, and a look across other bookies confirms the same beliefs.

Last season was a bizarre one for the team; up until Christmas everything seemed to be going too well. The squad which was revamped radically in the Summer of 2010, gelled instantly and the likes of Wesley Thomas, Josh Low and Keith Lowe to name a few, were performing to a level no one expected and the Robins were lying in and around the play-offs and deservedly so. However, as the New Year came and went Cheltenham embarked on one of the most dramatic slides the Football League has seen, almost resulting in relegation from the Football League. Unthinkable. Luckily Town survived, a 2-0 win at hapless Lincoln City was key in the final weeks. Mark Yates could only mastermind one home win in 2011 – to hopeless Stockport County which was narrow enough in itself. The players seemed scared to play at Whaddon Road, the manager seemed clueless as to what the problem was, the pitch was getting ever worse, the fans groans became louder by the match and faith was fast being lost. The season’s close came at a good time for Cheltenham, we’d survived and that would do. Nevertheless this was an incredible anti-climax to a season that promised so much in December 2010. The pinnacle being a 4-0 home win against Bradford which catapulted Town into the play-offs once again.

Many fans questioned and even called for Yates head, a knee-jerk reaction perhaps but with the football being served up at home week after week you could see their point to an extent. Nonetheless, Yates and his staff have had the off season to prepare and after a quick start, signing up the brilliant Marlon Pack from Portsmouth who had a loan spell which yielded many high quality performances, he also signed up Russ Penn from Burton. Penn is a combative midfielder whose style suits Pack down to the ground and before we knew it we had a central midfield of high quality in the offing.

After a brief lull the rumour mill picked up again and Yates has added a further eight taking the squad past the 20 mark in numbers, somewhat a rarity here. Daryll Duffy is probably the biggest name there; a striker released by Bristol Rovers who has pedigree at a higher level than most Cheltenham players have ever had. Jimmy Spencer and Kaid Mohamed have also joined and will fight with Jeff Goulding and young prodigy Ethan Moore for two frontline spots. In fact every position at the time of writing has two players that could play in their said position. At last, we have some competition. Something that lacked majorly last season – players got cosy knowing their place was guaranteed and many fans blame this for the drastic slump than occurred.

Although most will set the Rubies aside for another season of struggle, the fans are quietly talking about, in fact just whispering, of better things to come this season. There’s even been crazy talk involving the “P word”. No not promotion, but the play-offs. It may sound crazy to an outsider but football’s a funny old game and when Cheltenham and the play-offs meet there’s only one end result…! You just never know.

Written by Maxi Hobbs, We Are Going Up’s Cheltenham Town Blogger

Maxi tweets at @maxihobbs

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Posted in Cheltenham Town, League Two | No Comments »