Cheltenham Town video: I had a stinker until that goal – Benson

MATCHWINNER Paul Benson admitted if he was Cheltenham Town's manager on Tuesday night, he would have hauled himself off long before his 91st-minute heroics.

The on-loan striker from Swindon Town's third strike in nine starts earned the Robins their first-ever victory over Chesterfield, against whom they had never previously scored at the Abbey Business Stadium.

But the 33-year-old described his performance as "rubbish" until he nodded Billy Jones' cross into the net after good work from substitute Kaid Mohamed.

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"It wasn't pretty to watch and it wasn't too pretty to play in either, but it shows the importance of staying in the game and we defended magnificently," Benson said.

"I was probably the worst player on the pitch so it's lucky I am not the manager or I would have dragged myself off, which shows why I probably won't make a manager! I suppose that's the beauty of being a centre forward.

"I was rubbish, but it's so important to stay switched on because you never know when you are going to be needed.

"That's something I am pleased about because I stayed alert and got across the defender to score."

Benson said he had no complaints about the yellow card he was shown for his celebrations as he dived into the crowd to join in with the jubilant fans.

"It was standard because I was in the crowd for about half an hour celebrating!" he said.

"I was lucky it wasn't a red card for the amount of time I was in there, but that's the emotion of the goal and the timing of it.

"It could be such an important one so I just had to dive in there. The crowd were great, sticking with us when we hadn't given them much to cheer about, but at least they went home with smiles on their faces."

Benson has played up front alone for the past three matches, a role unfamiliar to him, but he said he was happy to do exactly what boss Mark Yates asks of him for the good of the team.

"It is hard to adjust because I have normally had a partner up there, but I see what the gaffer is trying to do and I will buy into it," Benson said.

"You have to be part of the team if you want to win things so I will do what the gaffer asks to best of my ability. He is the boss and I will go with it."

Benson netted the winning goal in Swindon Town's 1-0 home win over Cheltenham this time last year, his seventh goal in eight appearances during a purple patch of form.

He helped Paolo Di Canio's side power to the League Two title and while Benson knows there is much work to be done in the next nine games, he believes Cheltenham will be in contention for a top-three place come the final weeks of the campaign.

"Teams will be looking over their shoulders and seeing our run of form and we go to Burton on Saturday on the March now," Benson said.

"We are quietly confident we can go on a run and get ourselves in the mix with four or five games to go and then it's anyone's game.

"We have to play all the teams around us and those are the games you want to play in."

Benson has scored a winning goal at Burton's Pirelli Stadium before, for Dagenham and Redbridge in September 2009.

"My record at Burton is all right and without wishing to put a jinx on it, I don't think I've lost there before," he said.

"It's all about going on runs, building confidence and while it's not easy, if we can do that we'll be right in the frame."