THE GAME
It was a day of celebration; not that we had won anything, but that we had remained, comfortably, in League Two for another season.
None of us will want to go through another season such as the one now coming to a close – given our resources we should be, at the very least, pushing for automatic promotion from this division.
Having endured ten straight league defeats before Christmas Rovers finished this game with eight straight wins behind them – if only this was the start of the season and not the end!
Steve Evans once again rung the changes to his starting XI; in came Clinton Mola, Richie Smallwood, Promise Omochere, Yusuf Akhamrich and Ellis Harrison and out went Ryan De Havilland, Kane Thompson-Sommers, Tommy Leigh, Joe Quigley and Fabrizio Cavegn.
Harrison went on to score a hat trick in the demolition of the team from just up the M5, both managers were booked and there was a crowd of over 11,000 inside the Mem which made for a marvellous atmosphere inside the ground.
Harrison was quick off the mark, heading past former Rovers custodian Joe Day after only two minutes following a Jack Sparkes corner.
After that early strike the game felt a little bit flat and the visitors enjoyed a great deaol of possession without really doing am awful lot with it. The closest they came to an equaliser was through their skipper James Wilson, another former Rovers player, but he headed over when well placed. They were decent enough between the boxes, but lacked a cutting edge.
They were made to pay the price for that when in first half stoppage time, Harrison struck again when a long throw from Kofi Balmer caused all sorts of confusion in the Cheltenham defence and the striker headed home.
He completed his hat trick with a stunning effort 11 minutes into the second half. Spotting Day off his line, he sent an audacious lob over the keeper’s head from all of 35 yards and the sun drenched crowd rose to appreciate a truly wonderful goal.
Although Harry Ashfield and Mo Faal went close for the visitors, they seldom tested goalkeeper Brad Young in spite of the comments made by their manager post match.
With Steve Evans getting crushed and singing his heart out in the Thatchers End, Shaq Forde wrapped things up with three minutes remaining when he fired goal number four past Day. He soon joined his gaffer in the crowd to continue the celebrations.
With one game to go, Rovers can beat that remarkable 1952/53 record of 12 consecutive league wins if they beat Notts County next Saturday and win the first four games of next season.
Simples!
WHAT WAS SAID
‘My reflection, as I discussed with the Chairman, is that there are special days in football, and I’ve been very lucky in my career to have a lot of really special days. Of course, that makes up for the lot of down days, but it was a special day today, a local derby. It was a full house. Some people couldn’t get a ticket, some lucked out, call it what you like. Obviously, in terms of the game, we got away to a tremendous start, and then I think the game was a bit scrappy; it’s a typical derby. There was not much in the game; we probably slightly got on top just before half-time and got the second goal. Really, the half time talk was about, you know, we’ve turned up, and we’re at 60, 70 per cent.
‘We’re nowhere near where we can be, and then we go out in the second half, and you know, it’s a typical derby again. It’s a bit scrappy, but then we’ve got two or three good passages of play, and then of course Ellis scores his hat trick. It’s a fantastic hat trick, and it’s a natural hat trick as well. It’s a brilliant strike, 35, 40 yards over the goalkeeper, and then I do my party piece in the Thatchers End. Thank you for my amazing day. Of course, it just happens that I’m in there when one of my sons in the team, Shaq Forde, scores a goal.
‘Ellis has been outstanding since the day I walked in. He was carrying niggles and bruises, and we gave him a separate training plan. He’s worked really hard on it. He’s a big player in the dressing room, in terms of he’s a character, he’s a man, he’s a leader, and he goes in there with the skipper and the Balmers and Richie Smallwood, and Joe Quigley and Forde and even Yusuf. They’re all becoming leaders. Tommy Leigh. They’re all leaders. De Havilland. Clinton Mola, Sparkes, Joel Senior. I could go through them all and give them all credit. The atmosphere was all afternoon, so a real, real credit to the Gas family and I think after today, maybe they’ll realise I’m one of them.’ Rovers Manager Steve Evans
‘I think it was a good win. I feel like the early goal helped us a lot, especially with the massive crowd today. I feel like that early goal just gave them that little extra lift. It was a big day for us, we had probably not as much control as we wanted in the first half, but I think the goals helped us, getting them at the right time, and I feel like we dominated the second half really, and it’s good to get a goal as well and obviously see Ellis get his hat trick.
‘Ellis is probably one of the best players I’ve worked with. On and off the pitch, he is a really good guy. He gives everything for us all of the time, even when he was injured, he was still playing for us. Ellis is a really good guy, and we really love playing with each other.
‘Obviously, we saw it in the media throughout the week, so I said to one of the boys that if I score when he is there, that I am going to jump in, and then obviously I managed to score and I jumped in with him. I think it is good. Obviously, the gaffer has done a lot for us since coming in and really changed things around, and got the fans on side as well. I feel like he is just who he is. He’s just giving me the license to basically just have fun on the pitch and start enjoying my football again.’ Rovers striker Shaq Forde
We probably ran out of legs. The lads’ minds are brilliant but their bodies just can’t carry them now. We’ve gone into half time 2-0 down and we were the better team. Even at times in the second half, we were still the better team and we’ve ended up losing 4-0.
‘The lads are done now, they’ve been done for a little while and I’ve been saying that maybe this could happen. We were the better team, we’ve 100% had more possession and as many chances as they had. And that can happen. It’s a tough day for us, but there’s not another ounce you can get out of them lads.
‘I’ve squeezed that orange as hard as I possibly can and that’s why we’re still in the EFL. The biggest threat today was the long throws coming into the box and it’s a great weapon, but we’ve got to defend them moments better.’ Cheltenham Boss Steve Cotterill
