Cheltenham Town FC

The thoughts of Cheltenham Town manager Mark Yates after the 3-2 home win over Northampton Town:

"It’s a massive three points for us and we needed players to show a bit of character and a bit of quality. I think we got that," Yates said.



"They are a decent side and they’ll be up there no doubt about that and the end of the season and we’ve beaten them. I thought it was a cagey first half and we had a lot of chances, we score just before half time and we think great but we completely switched off after the break.

"We got lucky with the one when Mo (Kaid Mohamed) hit the post with after having a good chance ourselves and we go and score a couple.

"I never felt under pressure, with seven or eight minutes left on the clock. When they starting throwing the big men up top and pumping balls to them I didn’t have any qualms because we do that every week in training. The guys have got take enormous credit for today and we’ll go away for Tuesday’s game (at Cambridge United).

"We got a two goal advantage and then we conceded the corner which we were disappointed with but it happens sometimes. We had loads of chances played on their mistakes and at the time their goalkeeper made some great saves in the second and first half so we’ll settle with that.

"We’ve got three games in the space of seven or eight days we’ll try and get some points that can easily get us up in the league.

"Every time Eusebio got the ball he was a threat to us, Terry Gornell and Byron Harrison were causing problems. We did look a bit exposed at times down the right but that happens and that’s a sacrifice and gamble we’re prepared to take. And I think we created some really good chances in the first half. Terry puts his first one into the top corner and that’s good for Terry.

"We decided as a staff on Tuesday that Terry was going to be playing and we told him who was going to play up front with them. I’ve said to my strikers I need them to be like a tag team,, we’ve got four or five decent strikers here and it hasn’t been quite happening for them.

"Two start the game play 60 or 70 minutes depending on how well they’ve played and then the other two come on to win the game for us. That’s in an ideal situation. I’m really pleased for my strikers today because they’ve scored and I thought Byron was a real handful. I felt we needed to get John’s fresh legs on because of  the impetus he gave us and the energy he gave us.

"I told them I was starting Terry and I decided to put Byron up with him and playing Eusebio in that free roaming role on one side or the other. It was a case of bringing on one of Raffa De Vita, or John Marquis and I was hoping to bring both the strikers off and then tire their defenders out.

"With Matty Taylor going off early that scuppered that one. It’s too early to predict that one, he felt his hamstring and he came straight off, we’ve got the best physio going we can only hope that he do something. Jack did well, they asked different kinds of questions with Toney, D’ath and Nicholls just off them. They had good movements and caused some problems. Not problems in terms of chances but problems in terms of play."