Cheltenham Town slipped to a narrow defeat despite a hugely encouraging performance against high-flying AFC Bournemouth at the Abbey Business Stadium.
It wasn't the result Mark Yates would have hoped for, but his side made life very difficult for the promotion hopefuls this afternoon and the new manager will have been boosted by this refreshing display of attacking flair and defensive resillience.
In the end, it took a goal of genuine quality to split the sides, but the feel good factor returned to Whaddon Road and the job of retaining Football League status began in earnest today.
The game brought to a close a hugely eventful decade at the Abbey Business Stadium, one which had opened with an inauspicious 2-0 defeat by Lincoln City on January 3 2000.
Yates, the former Robins midfielder turned out in that game (in which former skipper John Finnigan scored the opener), was part of the side which went on to secure a League One spot under Steve Cotterill two years later and has now finished the ten-year period as manager.

TEAM NEWS: Yates made rang the changes, making five in total to the side which came away empty-handed from Chesterfield a fortnight ago. Out went David Bird, Andy Gallinagh, Theo Lewis and Julian Alsop, all dropped to the bench for this one while Elvis Hammond missed out altogether. Lee Ridley and Michael Townsend made a welcome return to defence after calf injuries, the latter as skipper and the pair were joined by Michael Pook (his first start since the FA Cup fixture at Torquay on November 7), David Hutton and Justin Richards in the starting XI. Winger Ben Marshall, who appeared in the 1-0 reverse at Saltergate two weeks ago, has since returned to parent club Stoke City. Hutton was deployed ahead of Joss Labadie in central midfield, flanked by Pook (on the right) and Low.

14th minute BOOKING: Joe Partington went into the book for a late challenge on Low in central midfield.

20: Cheltenham defended manfully throughout the match, but were guilty of some sloppy play on the 20-minute mark, allowing Jeff Goulding to meet Warren Cummings free-kick with a free header but fortunately from a Cheltenham perspective, the left back glanced it well wide.

40: Cheltenham had performed very well against the high-flying Cherries, but despite their positive passing and movement the only real goalmouth action in the first period was ruled out for a foul at one end and an offside at the other. Cheltenham though created a decent chance five minutes from the break involving Hayles and Low before Richards called goalkeeper Shwan Jalal into a comfortable low save from 16 yards.

45: Hutton had been something of a revelation in the first half, causing the Bournemouth defence plenty of problems down the left and fired one narrowly wide on the stroke of half time after another promising move.

45+2: Brett Pitman went close to claiming his side the opening goal deep into first half injury time when he ghosted into the Cheltenham box to fire narrowly wide.

HALF TIME: 0-0

47: Pook released the first effort of the second half, shooting wide from 25 yards two minutes after the re-start.

55: Bournemouth created the next chance when Cummings whipped across a Sammy Igoe short corner onto the head of Jeff Goulding, who planted a header against the right post.

57 GOAL: Cheltenham Town 0-1 AFC Bournemouth
Liam Feeney produced a fantastic strike to break the deadlock in the 57th minute, although he was afforded the chance after some poor play down the left between Lee Ridley and Hutton. The pair surrendered possession trying to play out of defence and the Bournemouth winger took full advantage, surging down the right flank before cutting inside Ridley and Townsend and dispatching a rising drive across Brown into the top left-hand corner.

59 BOOKING: Hayles was cautioned for a poor tackle on Brett Pitman in midfield. It was his fifth of the campaign and the striker will now sit out the trip to Dagenham and Redbridge on Monday (December 28).

64 BOOKING: Bournemouth skipper Danny Hollands went into the book for a deliberate handball to prevent Hutton's centre from the right reaching the box, and the former Spurs man delivered the free-kick himself, finding Ashley Eastham at the far post. The centre half met it with a good enough header, but Jalal held onto it on the line.

67 BOOKING: The Bournemouth number one was next into the referee's book, carded for time wasting with 23 minutes to play.

69: Richards shot from a tight angle inside the box, but Jalal was equal to it, diving to his right to claim it with both hands.

73: Cheltenham produced a fine move down the right to fashion the next opening, Pipe overlapping Hutton to cut one back into the path of Hayles although the big man fluffed his lines, placing it wide when you would normally expect the former Fulham man make it count.

73 SUBSTITUTION: Yates' first substitution as Cheltenham boss was to press Julian Alsop into action at the expense of Pook. The big man joined Richards and Hayles up front in the closing stages and smashed one into the bowling green with virtually his first touch.

76 DOUBLE BOOKING: Pipe and Cummings were both carded for an incident in midfield, the Bristol City loanee for the original tackle and the Bournemough left back for his reaction.

76 SUBSTITUTION: Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe sent on his veteran front man on with 14 minutes to go, replacing Igoe with Steve Fletcher.

80: Labadie was a whisker away from levelling with a low drive which flew past the right post 10 minutes from time.

84: It opened up for Hutton to try one from 16 yards in the 84th minute, but Jalal held onto to it.

87 SUBSTITUTION: Kyle Haynes took Ridley's place for the final few minutes.

88 SUBSTITUTION: Jeff Goulding made way, and Alan Connell came on for the last two minutes of the contest.

90+1: Richards turned both Scott Guyett and Joe Partington to fire the last chance of the game wide in the first minute of injury time.

FULL TIME: 0-1

CHELTENHAM TOWN (4-4-2): Brown; Pipe, Eastham, Townsend (c), Ridley (Haynes 87); Hutton, Labadie, Pook (Alsop 73), Low; Hayles, Richards. Subs not used: Bird, Diallo, Gallinagh, Lewis, Richardson (Gk).

AFC BOURNEMOUTH (4-4-2): Jalal; Guyett, Garry, Pearce, Cummings; Feeney, Partington, Hollands (c), Igoe (Fletcher 76); Pitman, Goulding (Connell 88). Subs not used: McQuoid, Thomas (Gk),Tindall.

REFEREE: A.R. Hall

ATTENDANCE: 4,114 (796 from Bournemouth)

Murry Toms at the Abbey Business Stadium