You can’t read the Robins!
Mixed signals but plenty to be pleased about at Whaddon Road
Cheltenham Town have begun this season in consistently inconsistent shape. With a 100% home record to boast of and a less savoury away streak to sweep under the carpet, a strong pattern is emerging at, and away from, Whaddon Road.
While the home form is good and a welcome relief to long suffering Cheltenham match goers, it’s the away form which spells caution and keeps optimists in the shadows.
The draw at Gillingham on opening day seems a long time ago now, and with the Gills struggling, becomes ever less laudable. What has happened since makes ugly reading, with defeats at Rotherham, Barnet and Chesterfield yielding 12 goals and keeping a firm check on league position.
Manager, Mark Yates, is honest enough to admit his side’s shortcomings. Some are out of his control, with an example being the funds sides like Chesterfield have at their disposal. He can’t do anything about that, and it’s not an excuse, but it’s certainly worth remembering on the back of a 0-3 outclassing.
It’s the things Yates CAN work on that are crucial, and generally the signs are good, the post match interviews intelligent and candid.
He wanted a balance to our new brand of attacking football and gradually the team have responded. Undone only by individual brilliance at Chesterfield, the defence have solidified around the ever improving Steve Elliott. Yates described the stoic 1-0 win over Stevenage two weeks ago as the ‘best performance of the season’, and you can see his line of thought.
Remarkable
Form, manager’s comments and goal difference all aside, league position remains, of course, king. The Robins sit in 8th place, narrowly outside the playoffs, and the majority of fans would have taken that 7 games into the season.
Much is owed to the remarkable form of Wesley Thomas. The striker, after netting just three times for Dag & Red in the entirety of last season, has already notched six this campaign and shows no signs of slowing up.
Ably assisted by strike partner, Jeff Goulding, and promising Coventry youngster, Shaun Jeffers, Thomas is fast earning the fan’s adoration with his whole hearted and dangerous performances.
The popular marker to measure a side’s potential is said to be ten games into a season. That could well be true of Cheltenham with three games left of that ten. If the side’s imperious home form falters with two matches in quick succession against Bury and Oxford, alarm bells will begin to gently vibrate.
Conversely, more than three points in those games coupled with a decent showing at Aldershot on 2nd October, and the optimists will be edging out into broad daylight.
Regardless of where the Robins sit in early October, the signs already point to a riveting season. With luck avoiding injuries, and a continuation of Yates’s excellent work, fans could well be rewarded for clinging on.