Striker Mo Eisa grabbed a clinical first half hat-trick as the Robins ran out comfortable winners in a pre-season fixture at Cirencester Town on Friday evening.
Eisa demonstrated that he intends to pick up exactly where he left off last season as he lit up the first half at the Corinium Stadium.
The forward showed all his composure to slot home two goals in as many minutes inside the opening quarter to put the Robins in complete control.
Eisa then completed his treble with the pick of his strikes - a powerful effort into the top left hand corner from range - while a trialist also got on the first half scoresheet.
A competitive side half saw both managers use their benches with Jordon Forster and Brian Graham testing the home goalkeeper.
Gary Johnson handed starts to five summer signings while there was a welcome return for goalkeeper Scott Flinders after hip surgery at the end of last season.
The Robins were straight into their stride with Conor Thomas almost picking out Eisa with an early run before the striker fired in an early attempt to test Matt Wieczorek.
The striker looked at his dangerous best and opened the scoring on seven minutes when a quick free kick was played into the box and he chested the ball down before rolling into the corner of the net.
Sixty seconds later the ball was played into Eisa's feet by the trialist and he cut past one man before neatly rolling the ball home to double the lead.
Atangana, Thomas and Smith were combining well and playing some neat football on the 4G pitch in the middle of the park to also release Broom and Long out wide on the overlap.
Broom almost added a third when he skipped inside the full back but his shot was always rising over the target.
Ben Whitehead had a shot charged down by Tozer, as the home side forced a first corner of the game that was powerfully cleared by skipper Will Boyle.
Smith almost connected with Long's chipped cross, with Ellis Dunton heading clear, before he curled a shot just over the bar.
But the midfielder did play a key role in a third Cheltenham goal as he fed the trialist who powered a shot home from the edge of the box.
The goal of the first half came just two minutes from the break when Eisa collected a ball from Thomas and shifted it out of his feet, turned back inside and curled expertly into the top left corner.
Johnson made seven half-time changes and Will Dawes was quickly involved as he glided past two men to win a free kick and then nearly delivered to Matt Bower lurking in the box.
Cirencester were coming more into the game and Rhys Lovett had to be alert to push Will Christopher's shot wide before Aidan Bennett headed the resulting corner over.
Brian Graham was denied by a last ditch tackle on the hour before he tested the reflexes of Wieczorek with a stinging shot.
The home side nearly got a goal for their endeavour as Lovett kept out a low shot before Jack Freeman crashed the rebound wide.
Alex Addai twice demonstrated his raw pace by blasting past the home full back while Forster powerfully won the ball on halfway and let fly with a powerful drive.
And there was nearly a late goal for the Centurions when Freeman's was cross headed just wide by Josh Beadle in the final minute.
CIRENCESTER TOWN: Wieczorek (Merchant 79), Christopher (Lewis 69), L Spalding, Pook (Freeman 45), Dunton, H Spalding (Beadle 76), Anderson (Wilson 72), Connolly, Griffin, Whitehead, Morris (Bennett 54).
ROBINS: Flinders (Lovett 45), Broom (Duncan 45), Tozer (K Thomas 67), Forster (Scott 76), Boyle (Bower 45), Long (Addai 45), Atangana (Lloyd 45), C Thomas (Dawes 45), Smith (Handley 67), Eisa (Graham 45), Trialist (Brennan 67).
REFEREE: Derek Eaton
