Report: Cheltenham 1-0 Torquay
Jack Munns' second half goal was enough to give Cheltenham a 1-0 win over Torquay at the World of Smile Stadium to maintain the club's push for the title.
In one of the quietest first halves of the season, there was only one shot on target. That came from Tyrone Marsh for the visitors who forced Dillon Phillips into a sharp save from 15 yards.
Billy Waters, back into the starting XI, combined well early on with Danny Wright and Ryan Jennings but was unable to get a shot off as the half ended 0-0.
Gary Johnson made two changes at half time to try and spark the game into life, bringing on James Rowe and James Dayton for Jack Barthram and Ryan Jennings respectively.
Despite the changes it was Torquay who should have opened the scoring after 50 minutes. They broke quickly from a Cheltenham corner, Marsh beating Rowe and George McLennan to the ball, running into the box and squaring to the onrushing Simon Heslop. However Heslop's shot was skied well over the bar to the dismay of his teammates.
Both teams to continued to create chances and it was a piece of fortune that finally broke the deadlock in the 59th minute.
Danny Wright did well to win the ball back and pass to Jack Munns whose cross was caught in the wind and sailed into the top corner of the net and give Cheltenham a 1-0 lead.
The Robins pushed for a second but were denied by a clearance off the line and a last ditch challenge from Courtney Richards, Wright was the player thwarted on both occasions.
Skipper Aaron Downes thought he had doubled the lead on 77 minutes but was called back for offside. Harry Pell's free kick was well saved by Lavercombe in the Torquay net but Downes was the fastest to react, poking home before he'd realised the linesman's flag was up.
The home side had Daniel Parslow to thank at the other end though as his brave block stopped a shot that looked destined for the back of the net.
Late on, Torquay captain Courtney Richards was sent off for two bookable offences. First, his wild challenge brought down Harry Pell, causing an altercation between both sides. In the final few minutes he was booked again for encroaching inside 10 yards at a free kick as he tried to block it.
Even with just 10 men the visitors did cause a few moments of alarm in the Cheltenham box but the Robins held on for the 1-0 win to maintain their seven point lead at the top of the league.
Cheltenham:
Dillon Phillips
Jack Barthram (46, James Rowe), Aaron Downes (c), Daniel Parslow, George McLennan
Ryan Jennings (46, James Dayton), Kyle Storer, Harry Pell, Jack Munns (85, Asa Hall)
Danny Wright, Billy Waters
Torquay:
Daniel Lavercombe
Durrell Berry, Ben Gerring, Nathan Smith, Kevin Nicholson
Simon Heslop, Courtney Richards (c), Daniel Butler
Aman Verma
Tyrone Marsh (78, Exodus Geohaghan), Andre Wright (71, Shaun Finch)
Attendance:
3,781 (424 from Torquay)