It was a disappointing afternoon in Gloucestershire for Fleetwood Town as they fell to a 1-0 loss against Cheltenham Town at the Completely-Suzuki Stadium.
In a game that never really got going, it was a half-chance that led to the only goal of the game which happened just before the 60-minute mark. A clearance happened to fall into the path of Alfie May, who volleyed past Jay Lynch from inside the area.
It was a slow start to the game as Town looked to control the possession from the off, and two-half chances from the hosts summed up the action from the opening quarter-hour. The first was a free-kick by Aidan Keena, which was blocked, with May being stopped by Toto Nsiala soon after.
Town’s first chance came in the 20th minute as the ball was played across the face of goal and was cleared, only to Scott Robertson who laid it off to Lewis Warrington who attempted to curl a shot into the bottom right, but the effort went wide of the mark.
There was a close call on the half-hour mark as Keena took a lofted bass down well and decided to try his luck on goal, but his shot was blocked and rebounded back to him. He then played it to Ryan Broom inside the area, who fired wide of Lynch’s far post.
The game seemed to spark into life just before the break as Liam Sercombe found the ball at his feet inside the Town box, and forced Lynch into a save before Carlos Mendes Gomes went down the other end and almost found a way through, but his effort went just wide of the far post.
That was it for the first period and the home side came out the blocks quickly at the start of the second as they forced Lynch into two early saves as he had to deny captain Sean Long at his near post before collecting Broom’s driven effort from range.
Not long after those chances, Fleetwood found their feet in the clash as Danny Andrew found the head of Nsiala from a corner, the shot going just wide of the left post. Mendes Gomes lined up another chance a minute later as he moved it onto his left foot and powered it over the bar.
The deadlock was broken by the home side just before the hour mark when a half-cleared effort from the Robins fell to May, who decided to volley it back towards goal, and that shot flew into the bottom right past Town’s number 13.
After some brave defending from Scott Brown’s men to keep the score at just one, Town looked like they may have worked a chance to level the score up 10 minutes before the end as Lynch’s long kick found substitute Jack Marriott on the edge of the Robins’ box, but his shot went wide of the mark.
As the game ground to a close, Town threw everything forward in search of the equaliser but couldn’t find a way through the Robins’ stern defensive line, which meant the day would have a disappointing end as Fleetwood headed home empty-handed.
Robins XI: Southwood (GK), Long (C), Raglan, Sercombe (Rea 87’), May, Taylor (Bradbury 63’), Ferry, Jackson, Bonds, Keena, Broom.
Unused subs: Macdonald (GK), Williams, Brown, Perry, Olayinka.
Town XI: Lynch (GK), Andrew (Patterson 67’), Mendes Gomes, Vela (C), Stockley, Robertson (Batty 67’), Warrington (Marriott 57’), Holgate, Nsiala, Rooney (Macadam 80’), Earl.
Unused subs: Fôn Williams (GK), Wiredu, Johnson.