The final scoreline may read 1-0 but that is in no way representative of the balance of play in this one-sided encounter.
Cheltenham blew away the cobwebs from that below par midweek performance against Port Vale with a rip-roaring display against mid-table Huddersfield.
They may have started the game slowly but the Robins went on to dominate proceedings, creating chance after chance before Paul Brayson finally broke the deadlock in the 71st minute.
Robins manager Graham Allner was forced into one change to the team that lost 1-0 against Vale in midweek, John Brough replacing the injured Richard Walker in the centre of defence.
Walker is expected to be out of action for around 10 days with a bruised knee picked up in that match.
It was a went and windy old day at Whaddon Road but the pitch, as usual, was in excellent condition. In fact, the ground presented a typical English winter's football scene with warm coats in the stands and the tea bars doing a good trade in hot beverages.
Cheltenham began energetically enough but found themselves having to defend the first two chances of the game against a three man Huddersfield attack.
Central striker Jon Stead shot weakly at Steve Book after eight minutes but there was a better chance only moments later when Martin Smith, who had started on the left-hand side, suddenly popped up on the right and cut inside before shooting just past Book's left post.
Cheltenham tried to settle on the ball and get their passing game going but found life difficult against a visiting team whose forwards, midfielders and defenders were compressed tightly together inside their own half whenever the Robins had possession.
Book had to race off his line to grab the ball after Smith had mis-controlled a through pass in a promising position, but the Terriers found themselves having to make a substitution after only 17 minutes.
Midfielder Simon Baldry limped off the pitch with a groin injury to be replaced by experienced campaigner Kenny Irons.
Cheltenham had begun the half quietly but as the minutes passed they began to make louder and louder noises.
There was a sign of the storm to come when Grant McCann sent a left-wing cross from one side of the area to the other with nobody able to get on the end of it, and the Huddersfield defence rode their luck on the half-hour when good work by Jamie Victory and Julian Alsop sent Paul Brayson clear. He was tackled by the impressive Nat Brown but the ball ran free to Alsop. His shot was on target but it hit a defender straining to get back and bounced out for a corner, one of eight won by the Robins in the first half.
Brayson sent a diving header wide after Alsop won a header in the box but there was a rare moment of action at the other end when Stead released Danny Schofield and his low shot was palmed away by Book.
Brayson's clever movement across the forward line and aerial power of Alsop were proving to a potent mixture. The one missing ingredient was a goal.
Huddersfield goalkeeper Scott Bevan dived bravely at the feet of Brayson, Martin Devaney sent a left-foot shot drifting wide then Bevan, a youngster on loan from Southampton, made an even more impressive stop. Left-back Kevin Sharp gifted the ball to McCann in midfield and his careful through-ball left Brayson with only Bevan to beat. His low shot appeared to be heading for the net until the big goalkeeper stretched out a seemingly telescopic arm to turn it aside.
More heroics from Bevan prevented McCann from curling a free-kick in at the near post but the best chance of the half arrived three minutes before the break. John Finnigan sliced the defence open with a pass for McCann down the left. His early cross fell for Brayson 10 yards out but his left foot shot brushed the wrong side of the post. A few inches to the right and Cheltenham would have been 1-0 up.
There was still time for another chance when Victory's cross from wide on the left found Alsop. He headed on for Brayson but the former Newcastle and Reading man could not get his headed effort on target.
Having dominated the first half there was an air of expectancy among the home crowd as the players trotted out for the second half.
Huddersfield emerged from the tunnel without Brown, who had been booked and given a stern ticking off by referee Paul Taylor in the first half, but his replacement Nathan Clarke soon found himself having to work as hard as the rest of the Terriers team in defence.
Irons went into the book only three minutes after the break for a foul on Devaney then the luckless Brayson finally found the net only to have his effort ruled out for handball.
Devaney fired over the bar as did Finnigan only moments later as Cheltenham threw everything they could muster at the Huddersfield defence.
Brayson saw a shot fumbled then grabbed by Bevan and a useful cross from Devaney looped off the heel of Sharp, over Bevan and onto the top of the crossbar.
Still the ball would not go into the net, the Huddersfield goal seemingly being protected by an invisible forcefield.
There were two incredible incidents mid-way through the second half which summed up the almost surreal nature of the game.
First, Neil Howarth won the ball on the right and supplied Devaney. His beautifully weighted cross found Brayson but Bevan threw himself off his line and into the path of his shot. Literally seconds later Brayson found himself by the goal-line inside the six yard box. He pulled the ball back across goal with Bevan stranded but Alsop, only four yards out with an open goal before him, was off balance and could not make good contact with the ball. A grateful Bevan fell upon it and yet another chance was gone.
Finally, at long long last, a goal the Robins so richly deserved arrived 26 minutes into the second half. Devaney delivered the cross, Alsop knocked the ball down and Brayson stole between Bevan and Clarke, who appeared to hesitate leaving the ball for each other. Brayson won the challenge, sidestepped Bevan and rolled the ball into the gaping net.
With Huddersfield having only three in midfield and being forced to commit them forward, Devaney was able to push on and play virtually as a third striker. Bevan had to be back to his best 13 mintues from time when he stretched to tip a drive from Devaney over the bar as Cheltenham pushed on to try and seal the result with a second goal.
Brayson, clearly exhausted after a mighty afternoon's effort, received a warm and appreciative ovation as he left the field to be replaced by Damian Spencer seven minutes from time.
There was a nervous moment three minutes from time when Victory made a right meal of trying to clear a cross by Smith. The ball fell to Stead 10 yards out with his back to goal but his overhead shot cleared the bar.
Three minutes of time added on seemed like an eternity but the final whistle, when it finally arrived, was greeted by a roar from the stands as it signalled another vital win for the Robins.
CHELTENHAM TOWN: Book; Howarth, M.Duff, Brough, Victory; Devaney, Forsyth, Finnigan, McCann; Alsop, Brayson (Spencer 83). Subs: Griffin, Yates, Naylor, Higgs
HUDDERSFIELD TOWN: Bevan; Mattis, Moses, Brown (Clarke 46), Sharp; Baldry (Irons 17), Scott (Macari 73), Holland; Schofield, Stead, Smith. Subs: Senior, Dyson
REFEREE: P.Taylor (Hertfordshire)
ATTENDANCE: 4,322