Cheltenham Town FC

Tranmere Rovers scored very late to snatch a 1-0 victory over Cheltenham Town at the World of Smile Stadium and end the Robins' unbeaten run at home. Andrew Mangan's 93rd minute winner gave the visitors the win in what had been a very even game.

Cheltenham had much the best of the first 15 minutes, keeping hold of the ball well and finding space down the wings and behind the back four.

Lee Vaughan and James Rowe, both brought into the starting XI by Gary Johnson, combined well down the right early on, the former having a shot well blocked by Liam Hogan.

From the resulting corner the Robins could have scored twice. First Aaron Downes had a shot which hit his own man, then the rebound found Kyle Storer whose scuffed shot beat the keeper but was cleared off the line to keep the scores level.

After seeing off the early pressure, Tranmere grew into the game and had the better of the play without creating any clear cut chances. Dillon Phillips just managed to clear a Michael Ihiekwe cross before Cheltenham broke up the other end, George McLennan's cross finding Danny Wright, but the striker couldn't keep his shot down.

A quiet half burst into life with five minutes remaining, Asa Hall's turn inside the box fooled three defenders, however his shot was just wide. Tranmere then had their best chance of the half, Adam Dawson's shot was deflected to Harris on the edge of the box whose shot was brilliantly cleared off the line by Storer.

The Robins then went straight up the other end with Lee Vaughan, the defender's cross finding Danny Wright eight yards from goal. His looping header was acrobatically pushed over the bar by Tranmere keeper Scott Davies and the half ended goalless.

Right at the start of the second half James Rowe's free-kick from 20 yards looked set to fly into the top corner, only for the wall to just about do it's job and keep the ball out.

Andrew Mangan was the biggest threat for the away side. Finding space inside the Cheltenham box and beating defenders on a number of occasions in the second half. He was only denied a great individual goal by a brave block from Daniel Parslow before the hour mark.

Both Managers made changes to look for the winner, Gary Johnson bringing on Billy Waters and Jack Munns for Asa Hall and James Rowe in the 68th minute and Jack Barthram for Lee Vaughan five minutes later.

The changes worked almost immediately when Munns found Amari Morgan-Smith who appeared to be pulled back outside the box. The decision wasn't given by the ref and the ball deflected past the keeper, only to be cleared off the line once again.

Kyle Storer and George McLennan were both booked for late challenges as the game became stretched late on. 

Daniel Parslow should have put the hosts infront with 15 minutes left when Rob Dickie found him with a header back across goal, but he couldn't keep his header down from five yards.

As legs became tired in the hot sun, both sets of strikers found more room, however both teams couldn't find enough quality in the final third.

Tranmere finally made the breakthrough with the first piece of real quality in the 93rd minute. Andrew Mangan found a bit of space inside the box, he needed one touch to control the cross and then with his second slotted into the near post to give Tranmere the 1-0 win.

Teams:

Cheltenham:

Dillon Phillips

Lee Vaughan (73, Jack Barthram), Rob Dickie, Aaron Downes (c), Daniel Parslow, George McLennan

James Rowe (68, Billy Waters), Kyle Storer, Asa Hall (68, Jack Munns)

Amari Morgan-Smith, Danny Wright

Tranmere Rovers:

Scott Davies

Michael Ihiekwe, Ritchie Sutton, Liam Hogan, Matthew Hill

Adam Dawson (60, Marlon Jackson), Jay Harris, Steven Jennings (c), Adam Mekki

Lois Maynard, Andrew Mangan

Attendance:

2556 (285 away)