The Memorial Stadium Sunday 1st January 2023
Bristol Rovers 2
Collins (25) Coburn (40)
Cheltenham Town 1
May (48)
Referee: Ollie Yates Attendance: 9,649
Three more changes were made to the starting lineup for Rovers’ first match of 2023; in came Harry Anderson, James Connolly and Scott Sinclair while Luca Hoole, Lewis Gordon and Ryan Loft were the three to lose their places.
So those players who bore the brunt of their manager’s criticism after the defeat against Exeter, kept their place in the starting XI, namely James Belshaw and Antony Evans.
It was a fairly sedate opening 20 minutes, when both sides squandered chances. Sam Finley blazed a shot over the Cheltenham bar on 14 minutes while Alfie May’s free kick was deflected behind for a corner at the other end of the pitch.
Rovers managed to break the deadlock on 25 minutes when Finley picked out the run of Aaron Collins who did what he does best, striking a left foot shot beyond the reach of goalkeeper Luke Southwood to put his side ahead with his 13th goal of the season.
Rovers were in the ascendancy at that point and it seemed only a matter of time before they would add to their tally. However, we had to wait until the 40th minute for a second goal to arrive.
This time, Collins turned provider and played in his strike partner Josh Coburn who lifted the ball over Southwood and into the net. It was the on loan striker’s eighth league goal of the campaign.
Former Rovers midfielder Liam Sercombe was unlucky not to pull a goal back just before the break, though, when his long range effort came back into play off the upright.
Just as Rovers had done a few days earlier, Cheltenham made a triple substitution at the start of the second half and within three minutes of the restart they had halved the deficit, though that was more down to a woeful clearance than the change of personnel.
Belshaw threw the ball out to Connolly who was inside the area and the defender inexplicably passed the ball to May on the edge of the box and he took a couple of steps towards goal before firing past a bemused goalkeeper.
From that point the visitors played with a sense of belief and purpose that had been absent in the opening 45 minutes and Rovers were fortunate to survive with their lead intact.
May, in particular, ran Rovers’ defence ragged and he should really have equalised with one of the many chances that came his way, while Sercombe also might have drawn his side level had he not blasted a shot high over the bar.
It wasn’t a convincing performance by Rovers by any stretch of the imagination and probably their worst of the three holiday games, yet they collected three points which, after all, is the name of the game.
It remains to be seen whether or not the manager will be allowed to strengthen his squad during the January transfer window, but he surely has to be looking at shoring up a porous defence!
Bristol Rovers: Belshaw, Thomas, Connolly, Gibson (Hoole, 59), Anderson (Gibbons, 70), Coutts, Finley (McCormick, 81), Evans (Whelan, 81), Sinclair, Coburn (Loft, 70), Collins.
Substitutes: Jaakkola, Marquis.
Cheltenham Town: Southwood, Long (Brown, 78), Taylor, Freestone (Norton, 89), Broom, Perry (Jackson, 46), Sercombe, Williams (Ferry, 46), Olayinka (Bonds, 46), N’Lundulu, May.
Substitutes: Bradbury, MacDonald.
ALSO
Former Rovers players Liam Sercombe and Ryan Broom were in the Cheltenham Town side while Marcus Bignot remains a member of the Cheltenham management team
A yellow card was issued to Ryan Loft
Paul Coutts was skipper
Five substitutes used
Ten added minutes
(photos courtesy of JMP)
Keith Brookman