Fleetwood Town suffered a defeat at home to Cheltenham Town on Good Friday as the visitors picked up all three points on the Fylde Coast.
The game took an uneventful start, with both teams not really creating any clear-cut chances. Jay Lynch was forced into making a few early saves, but there was noting that was too difficult for the 30-year-old.
Fleetwood would respond after a few crosses into the box from Ryan Broom and Brendan Wiredu, but none of them would materialise into a shot on goal.
The Robins had a golden opportunity to score and quiet down the home support when Liam Sercombe found himself open at the back-post from a free-kick, but Promise Omochere did brilliantly to divert the shot out for a corner with a block.
The deadlock was broken by Cheltenham after half-an-hour, when Sercombe found some space to drill a shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the penalty area, giving The Robins the advantage. The pressure would be added by Cheltenham, having a few chances to add to their lead before the break, but none would find the back of the net.
A quick response was needed by Charlie Adam's side, but there was a sense of deflation going into the half-time interval.
Going into the second half, the response almost came when both half-time substitutes linked up, as Shaun Rooney played through Ryan Graydon out wide, and when he cutback, he could only find a Cheltenham defender as it was cleared away for a corner.
More Town chances were to follow. After a lovely passing move between Omochere and Bosun Lawal in the 49th minute allowed the midfielder the opportunity to play the ball across goal, but no Fleetwood player could get on the end of it.
Both sides battled through the second half, with both sides continued to create chances, but after 65 minutes the score remained 1-0 to The Robins. Lawal had a few shots from the edge of the penalty area but none would trouble Luke Southwood in goal.
With time running out, the Cods would put a ball over the top of the defence into Omochere, who fought off the defenders around him and squared it into the path of Graydon - who was able to squeeze a shot past the Robins keeper to grab his second goal in two games. Was there hope left for the Cods?
The 24-year-old’s equaliser would soon be cancelled out almost instantly, after Aiden Keena was the first to react to a cross by Joe Nuttall, and he saw his shot hit the back of the next to put the visitors back in front with less than ten minutes of normal time left to play.
Substitute Tommy Lonergan had a glorious effort to equalise late on in the game, but he was denied by Southwood, before a header from Omochere went inches over the bar.
A disappointing afternoon in the Fylde Coast, but they will have to put the loss behind them and move onto the next game on Monday away at Oxford.
Town XI: Lynch (GK), Wiredu (C), Lawal, Campbell, Kilkenny (Simons 65’), Stockley (Lonergan 65’), Mayor (Graydon 45’), Broom (Samuels 76’), Heneghan, Omochere, Patterson (Rooney 45’)
Unused Subs: McMullan (GK), Johnston
Cheltenham XI: Southwood (GK), Long (C), Bradbury (Smith 76’), Freestone, Kinsella, Sercombe, Keena, Ferry, Lloyd (Nuttall 68’), Davies, Pett (Bonds 64’)
Unused Subs: Olayinka, Pardington, Harrop, Thomas
