Sitting in the Whaddon Road Press Box last night I had my report pretty much sorted out by the 66th minute when substitute Ben Stevens added a second goal to Jake Robinson’s 14th minute opener. At that point you couldn’t see Cheltenham fighting back and so the introduction my report read:
“Danny Stevens’s super strike was too hot to handle as Torquay edged closer to the play-offs.”
Keeper Scott Brown had already made two great saves in the game, but could only palm Stevens rapier-like 20 yarder over his head, off the post and into the net. You could see that Brown was trying to deflect the ball over the bar and – in fairness – he did what he could, but the shot was just too powerful.
Even though Brown also got a hand to Robinson’s opener, he stood no chance with this one either – the striker’s 2nd goal in six games since joining on loan from Shrewsbury (where he had scored nine goals in fourteen games) until the end of the season.
Gulls skipper Lee Mansell’s free kick from the right picked out the unmarked Robinson on the opposite wing and he took one step in-field before unleashing and great shot from the angle of the box.
All sorted then. An easy night and the deadline to get the report over to the paper “on the final whistle” looked comfortable.
Step up Jeff Goulding in the 73rd minute to volley home a weak punch clear from under pressure keeper Danny Potter. From 12 yards and having made some space for himself, Goulding wasn’t going to pass up on his 10th goal of the season.
It had been strange to see Jeff playing wide left in the game as the understanding he has with Wes Thomas up front seemed good earlier in the season, but if he fancies getting his striking role back from Oxford loanee Matt Green, he certainly sent out the right message to boss Mark Yates.
Nice to see the Robins get a little something out of the game though, I thought to myself. The report was still looking good and I was at peace with the world ... until the 94th minute.
Now don’t get me wrong, Wes Thomas is a lovely lad, but at that moment I could have throttled him! Suddenly the Press Box resembled New York’s Fifth Avenue during a ticker tape parade as I tore up my notebook.
Fortunately the report was only a tiddler (see below), but I remember being at one game many moons ago when the way side came back from three goals down to win it in injury time. In those days newspaper technology wasn’t what it is now and each goal entailed a call to the desk with details while trying to do a large re-write at the same time.
Wes won’t get many easier goals this season. He pounced to spring the offside trap and poke the ball home for his 17th of the season from about eight yards out.
My clipping from this morning’s paper
Yates was by far the happier of the two managers at the end of the game and rightly said:
“Points wise it’s not what we would have wanted, but I thought we deserved at least a draw from tonight. We were the better team against what is a very good side. I told the lads to keep knocking at the door and that’s what they did.”
I also had a brief chat with Mark about the pitch which really deteriorated during the game and he agreed with me that it is now “terrible”. If Cheltenham miss out on a play-off spot – something they are more than capable of doing – they may look back at the surface and have a case for pointing the finger of blame in that direction.
Having Gloucester City share the ground is not doing them any favours at all, but- as I mentioned in yesterday’s post – beggars can’t be choosers and a small club like Cheltenham need revenue from whatever source to survive.
Paul Buckle was left shell-shocked by the last-gasp equaliser and groaned:
"We've drawn, but it feels like a defeat because it was a game we controlled. Cheltenham pushed a lot of balls up, but they didn't really hurt us. Ours were two good goals and there was a lot of good play from us on a poor surface, but we're disappointed because we know that was a game that was there for the taking.
At two goals up we were coasting and then the ref goes and gives a free-kick when the lad has won the ball and from that they score. We only had ourselves to blame at the end and we have to learn from that."
Song artist: Scooter
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