Cheltenham Town 1 Bury 2

Cheltenham fans might be spooked at the thought of relegation, but Paul Baker thinks the team will come good in the final furlong..

The Cotswold spa town is better known for GCHQ spies and horse racing, but club Chairman Baker has rallied his troops to make sure their survival odds are slashed before next month's Gold Cup.

Baker called a meeting of players and staff last Friday following the dismissal of manager Paul Buckle and the appointment of academy boss Russell Milton as caretaker boss. He revealed:

"I spoke to everyone at the training ground - the players, the coaching staff, the secretary, the stewards, the groundsman, the ticket and commercial people. The big issue I wanted to talk to them about was the consequences of relegation as it's a very serious situation.

"It would mean job losses, the end of the academy and the training ground. We'll possibly have to go part-time as we couldn't maintain those things on crowds of two thousand, but the focus now is to make sure we don't reach that point and the positive attitude shown by the players and the fans today showed we don't have to."

Despite losing to play-off chasing Bury and seeing the club slip into the relegation places, Baker said:

"There are about eight teams in our position and I bet none of them were applauded off by their fans this weekend like our team was. As a club we've spent the last sixteen years in the league scraping for what we have. We'll continue doing that now.

"Obviously we'd prefer to be mid-table or in the play-offs, but we're all up for the battle."

Former manager John Ward has been linked with a return to Whaddon Road, but Baker said:

"You could see the positive effect Russell had on the team. If he needs it, we may look to appoint an experienced Technical Director who can help him."

Mark Yates lasted five years at the Robins' helm, twice leading the Whaddon Road outfit to the promotion play-offs, but was sacked in November, ending the third longest managerial reign in  the country - behind only Arsene Wenger and Exeter's Paul Tisdale - with Cheltenham 18th.

Less than two months later, with the club sliding to the brink of the drop zone after one win in thirteen games, Buckle was axed after just 79 days.

Milton played under current Bristol City boss Steve Cotterill when the club were first promoted to the League in 1999 and was a member of the squad that won promotion to what is now League One three years later. He said:

"I've been at the club for eighteen years now and feel the time is right for me to step up. I would have preferred to start with a win obviously, but I'm chuffed to get the job and even more pleased to see the spirit shown by the lads. There are definitely worse teams than us in this fight."

Baker also asked player-coach Steve Elliott back to the club to support Milton - only one week after he had been ditched by Buckle. 

Central defender Elliott was given a round of applause by the squad on his return and is now working on a voluntary basis. He said:

"I saw what happened when my former club Bristol Rovers got relegated last season. A lot of very good people and friends of mine lost their jobs - that isn't happening here.

"I had always hoped to return to Cheltenham one day. I love the place, but even I was surprised to be back after one week.

"We have just had three tough games against top sides, but the next few are against teams in the same situation as us. If the boys show the same desire as they did against Bury, we'll do okay."

Birmingham loanee striker Denny Johnstone, 20, scored Cheltenham's 24th minute consolation before saying:

"I was brought up at Celtic where the emphasis was on technical ability, but in the position we're in we'll do whatever it takes to fight our way out of trouble. No one here wants a relegation on their CV - whether they are on loan or not. We're all in this together."

Meanwhile, sources close to Buckle say the former Bristol Rovers and Luton boss is disappointed he could not stop the rot at the Robins, but is looking at several options for jobs in English football rather than returning to the USA where wife Rebecca Lowe is an NBC sports presenter.

Bury raced to a two goal lead in seventeen minutes as they edged to within one point of the play-offs.

Danny Mayor opened the scoring before Danny Rose chested in the second, but boss David Flitcroft was especially pleased with skipper and central defender Nathan Cameron. He said:

"I'm delighted for the two lads who scored, but Nathan led an incredible second half performance. Crosses, long throws - he dealt with them all.

"He looks a different player from a year ago. He buzzes you up. You come in every day wanting to improve people and he's the person who gets better - better as a person, better as a football player. It's a double positive with that kid."

And Flitcroft sees teams like Cheltenham having a say in the promotion race. He said:

"The teams down at the bottom have got new managers and new impetuous and they are really having a go. They'll take points off the middle and top teams and that'll make it a fascinating run in."