Cheltenham Town video: Robins end home discomfort with Oxford win

“It would be very interesting to compare this attendance with previous seasons for the same kinds of fixtures (ie Oxford, Bristol Rovers) - I seem to remember then being almost twice as high. Both home and away support seems to be dwindling. Of course, I wasn't at the match but isn't it the case that, irrespective of team selection or tactical formations, in some games the strikers convert chances and in some games they miss a hatful. This happens at all levels but inevitably the quality of strikers at this level are far more likely to miss a larger percentage of opportunities. Naturally, after a game in which the strikers miss six sitters, all the experts come on here and blame the manager !”

“That was more like it!! Again, not the greatest performance, but we got the 3 points, whch we really needed after 2 disasterous performance at home. Harrod showed yet again how much of a predatory striker he is - 1 real chance - 1 goal - and from more than 12 yards out this time!! A great goal! ovely strike too by Carter - showed his class - 'keeper never moved.

Have to say the defence looked soooo much better with Benno back alongside Elliott - don't why, but our defence just looks so much more solid with those 2 in the CB positions. They prob faced the same number of crosses as against Southend (far to manyIMO - need to cut down the number of crosses into our box), but we looked far more assured in dealing with them.

Thou Oxford prob deserved a draw - their Penalty should never have been awarded - the ref didn't blow up until about 30 seconds after the incident - what was that all about - some bizarre advantage??

Anyway, 1 of those matches where the result was better than the performance - but that's prob just what we needed after Stanley + Southend.

BTW: I know it was a nite match, but seriously - 2,300 home supporters for a derby match??? What attendances would we be getting if we were the bottom 3 or 4 - 1,000 or less?? I know some supporters can be fickle - but this is getting ridiculous - C'mon Gloucestershire - feet off the sofa and watch some LIVE football!!”

“this was the strongest oxford team i've seen for many years.they must have gone home wondering how they came away from whaddon road with nowt.only some resolute defending and great goalkeeping kept use in the game for long periods.but fair play we scored two cracking goals and just managed to hold on even with benno giving away a needless penalty.sido & mcclasan were the star players(there could be some big money offers for these two).harrod up front on his own doesnt seem to work,but the bloke knows wher the goal is.just dreaming,but can you imagine how many goals he'd get if he was feeding off someone like alsop?still plenty fot MY to ponder on,although i think he prefers it when his got less to choose from,it prevents him making a wrong decision.anyway onwards & upwards”

“At FGR Al, we are doing all those things - for example in the last match it was £1 for kids. 1,075 was reasonable given Alfreton brought just 30. But it is still hard going and mid week games are the worst.

As you might have seen on the RobinsNest Forum, some CTFC supporters picked up on our half price gate admission offer to season ticket holders and/or officers of all regional clubs - including Bristol City and Rovers, Swindon Town, Gloucester Rugby, Gloucester City, Cirencester Town, Shortwood United, Cinderford Town, Bishops Cleeve, Slimbridge and others - provided a season ticket or club officials accreditation is shown.

We encourage the clubs to reciprocate though it is not a pre-condition. The idea is not to steal other clubs fans, but get them to adopt a second local club at a discounted rate. Should they not wish to travel away with their own club, for whatever reason, then the 'second favourite' club may benefit. It could be expanded to locally based Manchester United, West Brom, Aston Villa and Midlands fans too.

I watch Shortwood regularly along with quite a few FGR fans, and usually take in games at Slimbridge, Cirencester, Whaddon Road and Bishops Cleeve over the course of a season. Premiership and Championship clubs' supporters will be surprised at the excellent standard of football in the lower leagues as well as the hospitality and value for money.

It might be 'small beer' to big clubs, but if the likes of The Robins and Rovers can attract tens or a few hundreds of 'guest supporters' regularly, it starts to make a difference and encourages interest.”

“Agreed Chrisgump2011
I have been following the mighty Robins since 1970ish and I really cant undrstand why we do not have more regular fans .
I know last night we were up against people working,Footy on T V and of course many people just have not got £30 or £45 to spend watching a couple of games in a week.
I honestly think if prices were cheaper then there would be more money coming through the gates through increased numbers.
Some Prem teams do offers through the season where you can watch two games from a £10 ticket,yet Div 2 sides still want top dollar,it's a hard one but I think a little more creative thinking by CTFC marketing needs to be made.
High profile promotions in the town maybe,reduced price tickets on sale in a booth in Town,get around all the local schools offering really good value for a group of 20 or more kids catch them young you have them for life.”

“Glad to see CTFC back on track even if it might not have been a fluent performance. Worrying though that just 2,300 Cheltenham supporters bothered to turn out for a local derby.

At FGR we are working like crazy to increase gates, but either the recession is biting harder than ever or the Gloucestershire public cannot be bothered.

Both teams set out to play attractive passing football. Ok, you can't win every game and some days it works better than others. But the Gloucestershire public seems more fickle and harder to please than most”

“Ok lets start with the plus side of things..3 points in the bag,defence looked a lot more solid,on the down side,thank goodness Oxford have not found their cutting edge,the second half especially saw them boss our out of sorts midfield and push us back where we defended too deep,inviting them with all to often the only outlet was a big punt up the fireld to our lone giant of a striker which in turn saw the ball heading straight back towards our goal.
However this was CTFC winning ugly,Penn made a diference when he came on and put a bit more fight and pace into the centre of midfield.I'm pretty sure M Y will return tohis preffered away shape of 4 5 1 on Saturday,and to be honest the way we are at present that is probably our best bet to get any sort of result,two terrific goals out of nothing papers over the cracks at present,I fully expect M Y to be looking for at least another midfield player who can compliment Pack as Carter will probably return to a higher level,although Pack and Carter are both very good on thew ball I think it's a bit of the Lampard ,Gerrard thing,are they really suited together?”