Cheltenham Town FC

Full Time: Robins 1-0 Bees

Cheltenham Town have won 1-0 this afternoon against bottom of the table side Barnet.

The poor weather conditions played its part in this afternoon's encounter against Barnet, but in a game of two halves Cheltenham rose above the elements to secure all three points.

Substitute Jeff Goulding made an immediate impact scoring a delightful chip within seconds of coming off the bench and this proved enough. However Barnet produced a tough display in the first half, proving they weren't to be push overs despite being bottom of League Two.

Mark Yates made three changes to his team selection today with McGlashan, Taylor and Harrad starting ahead of Mohamed, Penn and Goulding. Taylor, who is on loan from Reading, made his debut for the Robins this afternoon while his club team mate Lawson D'Ath remains sidelined with a knee injury.

Barnet's player / manager Edgar Davids started for the away side this afternoon, behind their main striker Jake Hyde. The former Ajax and AC Milan player returned for the Bees after serving a one match ban against Torquay last weekend.   

The first half took a while for either side to produce a decent opportunity on goal, but the Robin's made a good early display to keep Davids and his men at bay. The Bees' Ricky Holmes however looked a real threat down the left hand side - his running and cutting inside causing the Cheltenham defence a couple of problems but his efforts were denied by Bennett and Brown.

Barnet did begin to settle into the game however with Davids and Mark Byrne looking constant threats. Byrne saw his 25th minute shot well saved by Brown, diving across to his left, and minutes later set-up Yiadom who fired over.

Cheltenham soon responded to the away side's pressure. An Elliott chipped cross evaded everyone in the box apart from debutant Jake Taylor who vollied over the bar. Elliott was then involved again five minutes from the end of the first half when his flicked on pass found Harrad in the box who turned and shot well but he could only find the side netting. Edgar Davids then showed a moment of great skill to make himself space and fired a shot just wide of Brown's right hand post as the sides went in even at half time. 

Half Time: Cheltenham Town FC 0-0 Barnet FC

Whatever was said at half time certainly inspired Cheltenham to come out a lot more attacking at the start of the second half, and within two minutes of the restart Jake Taylor hit a 20-yard effort over the bar before Chris Zebroski saw his curling effort from the edge of the box finely saved by Graham Stack's finger tips.

For all the Robins' early attacking intent they could have found themselves 1-0 down when referee Andrew Madley awarded a penalty for a handball against Carter just after an hour of play, but Scott Brown saved Byrne's resulting spot kick. The Whaddon faithful were now in full voice and the game really began to open up.

Andy Yiadom found himself in acres of space down the right hand side minutes later but after a great run and cutting inside Billy Jones, he could only force a tame effort straight into the arms of Brown while at the other end Harrad saw his shot deflected just inches wide of the post with the Stack well beaten.

Some sloppy play by Cheltenham allowed Byrne to pick up a loose pass, and after showing his running ability with Cheltenham backing off, he could only fire over the bar.

Harrad then saw a back heeled attempt from close range cleared off the line and the ball back in was met by the header of Keith Lowe who glanced it wide. Cheltenham changed formation to 4-4-2 and Jeff Goulding, within seconds of replacing Carter, scored the match winning goal with a wonderful chip with little over 10 minutes remaining. Sam Deering got down the left hand side finding Zebroski who in turn passed to Goulding, and with only a couple of touches working his way into the box, chipped the ball over Stack in the Barnet goal, with the wind perhaps playing its part.

Deering himself then saw an effort from range pushed wide by Stack as Cheltenham looked to put the game beyond doubt but a Kamdjo header, minutes from the end, rebounded back off the post with Cheltenham failing to clear their lines but they held on secure all three points and stay third in npower League Two.

Full Time: Cheltenham Town FC 1-0 Barnet FC

Cheltenham Town FC (4-2-3-1): Brown (GK); Lowe, Bennett (C), Elliott, Jones; Pack, Carter (Goulding 78); McGlashan (Deering 72), Taylor (Penn 78), Zebroski; Harrad

Subs not used: Duffy, Roberts, Andrew, Graham

Barnet FC (4-2-3-1): Stack (GK); Fuller, Stephens, Pearce, Brown; Yiadom, Kamdjo, Byrne (Nurse 85); Holmes Davids (C); Hyde

Subs not used: Lee, Edgar, Cowler, Weston, Barker, Iro

Referee: Mr. Andrew Madley

Attendance: 2591 (100 from Barnet)

Robins Star Man: - Keith Lowe. Solid at the back and even out-skilled Edgar Davids. A great all round performance.