Cheltenham Town: Prove Rotherham was a one-off demands Yates

MARK Yates says Cheltenham Town's players must show him that Saturday's 4-2 defeat at Rotherham United was a one-off as they visit Chesterfield tomorrow night, writes Jon Palmer.

The Robins took the lead in the first minute through Keith Lowe at the New York Stadium before falling 3-1 down inside half an hour.

Chris Zebroski's fifth strike of the season restored hope, but Rotherham added a fourth in the 93rd minute to inflict Cheltenham's second away defeat of the campaign.

Yates said: "My players have been magnificent all season, but they let themselves down today.

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"We played some decent football, but when you give teams goals and look that open, you are going to be caught out.

"We have to move on quickly. The supporters came up in their numbers, with a decent following and it's a shame we didn't give them more to shout about.

"I pick the team, it's my squad of players and I'll take responsibility for losing, but the players better show me what they are about at Chesterfield on Tuesday."

Lowe's opener came within a minute of kick-off and Yates said taking such an early lead actually worked to Rotherham's advantage.

"We got what we deserved for our first half performance and the worst thing we did was score the first goal," he said.

"It wasn't us and I was disappointed with the way we played and the way we defended.

"I wasn't happy with having to go and chase the game and we needed to stand up because we knew there would be a backlash from them.

"We started on the front foot, but the rest of the 44 (first half) minutes were far from pleasing. The good thing is we have a game on Tuesday to try to put it right."

Lowe returned to the team in place of Sido Jombati, who faces three weeks out after a double hernia operation.

The right-back was praised by Yates for his performance, but the Robins boss admitted very few players emerged with any credit.

"I thought Keith Lowe was outstanding and apart from that there weren't many positives," he said.

"The subs came on and livened it up, but we didn't stand up and be counted.

"I felt the game was never really there, we scored and a minute later they could have scored at the back post from a cross and that summed us up.

"Conceding four goals can't be a trait we are associated with and it's an unhappy day and I am desperate to get out of the place to be honest."