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Monday, September 29, 2008, 08:00
He has shaken things up and there was the feeling of the dawning of a new era as his new-look team took to the field to face Stockport on Saturday.
It was another highly eventful afternoon at Whaddon Road as three loanees were handed debuts and two of them were prominent in the Robins' 2-2 draw.
Stuart Fleetwood scored the opener and won a second-half penalty, from which Cheltenham eventually took the lead for a second time before Stockport grabbed a late equaliser.
West Ham's Josh Payne made his senior debut and immediately caught the eye with a mature performance, capped by a second-half strike after Scott Murray's spot kick was saved.
Young Hammers such as Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick and Jermain Defoe have been loaned to lower league clubs and progressed to be England international stars.
Of course Payne, 17, has a long way to go before he can be thought of as a contender for Fabio Capello's squad, but he already looks capable of having a big future.
Amid the excitement of the introductions of Payne, Fleetwood and Wigan's Lewis Montrose, one of the most popular players to represent Cheltenham in recent years, Jerry Gill, led the team out for one last time.
Nine players were sidelined, with Lloyd Owusu ruled out after twisting an ankle in training on Thursday and Alan Wright was concussed when a powerful shot from Fleetwood struck him on the forehead on Friday.
Shane Higgs (calf), Shane Duff (Achilles), David Bird (toe) and the suspended Barry Hayles were also out, along with long-term absentees John Finnigan (heel), Damian Spencer (knee) and midfielder Scott Brown (ankle).
Those called upon gave accomplished accounts of themselves, not least goalkeeper Scott Brown, and Drissa Diallo was dominant in his second appearance.
Not many defenders can catch Fleetwood in full flight and he raced on to Alex Russell's ball in the 23rd minute, beat one defender and was impeded by another, but he stayed on his feet and rolled a shot wide.
But he was celebrating nine minutes later when Russell released him again and after a perfect first touch he poked the ball into the bottom left corner.
Stockport levelled 10 minutes after half-time when Anthony Pilkington crossed for Peter Thompson to head in at the near post.
Cheltenham were awarded a penalty in the 65th minute when Fleetwood was brought down by goalkeeper Owain fon Williams.
Murray's spot kick was saved and he headed another attempt against the bar with the goal gaping, but Payne fired home to become Cheltenham's youngest Football League scorer.
Michael Rose's 90th-minute free-kick was blocked, but the ball was pumped back into the box and Michael Raynes headed past Brown to maintain Stockport's unbeaten record against Cheltenham.
Brown palmed Pilkington's curling effort onto the bar in stoppage time as Cheltenham held on for a point when they had looked set for all three.
Cheltenham Town: see panel on left
Stockport County: O fon Williams; J McNulty, G Owen (M Rose 67), J Mullins, L McSweeney (J Vincent 82); M Raynes; P Turnbull, S Gleeson (C Baker 82), G Dicker; A Pilkington; P Thompson. Subs: D Blizzard, L Rigby.
Referee: O Langford (West Midlands).
Attendance: 3,796 (575 from Stockport).
Star Man: Josh Payne.
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