A young Robins XI ran out 4-2 winners in a reserve fixture with Swindon earlier today.
A Cheltenham Town reserve XI beat Swindon Town 4-2 at the training ground earlier this afternoon.Some good performances and good goals ensured a confident but hard-working victory under the watchful eyes of Russell Milton and Shaun North with many young Robins reminding the management staff that they are ready to make the step up.
Matthew Gould, grandson of former Robins boss Bobby, was named in goal from the start as Mark Yates pondered giving the free agent a contract and there was also an appearance in midfield for former Bury and Kilmarnock player Danny Racchi who was playing for fitness.
It was a good game played under warm sunshine at the training ground and a crowd of spectators saw the first goal of the afternoon fly in after just 14 minutes. Cheltenham had been threatening early on but a superb ball from Adam Powell released Bobbie Dale on the edge of the area and the young striker struck a fine shot past the Swindon keeper for 1-0.
The scoreline was doubled 20 minutes later when the referee spotted a foul inside the area and James Bowen stepped up to smash a strong penalty into the roof of the net despite the goalkeeper's best efforts.
Joel Chianese, an Australian trialist, was the pick up Swindon's line-up and he grabbed a goal back for the visitors after a case of pinball inside the Cheltenham area six minutes from the break.
Cheltenham's two goal lead was soon restored however when trialist Danny Racchi popped up at the back post to score from close range following good work from Zack Kotwica on the right wing.
Shaun North asked for more of the same from the Robins XI at half-time but they found themselves conceding a goal ten minutes in and it was Chianese once again who was providing the majority of threat for Swindon.
The Robins rarely looked ruffled however and a Jamal Lawrence goal on 58 minutes proved to be the winner. It was good work from Powell to find Kotwica on the right and his inch perfect cross found the lurking Lawrence who made no mistake slamming the ball into the back of the net for 4-2.
There were chances for both sides but the Robins rarely looked threatened and Mark Yates will have been pleased with what he saw from afar.
CHELTENHAM TOWN XI (3-5-2): Gould (GK); Craddock, Bowen, Reynolds; Kotwica, Williams, Powell, Racchi, Black; Lawrence, Dale (Goodwin)