Midfielder Harry Pell admitted work on the training field had been the key to success as the Robins stunned Crawley Town 5-3 at the Checkatrade Stadium.
Pell netted two early goals - a stunning long range effort before he followed up his own penalty to net - as Cheltenham blew the Red Devils away in a convincing Sky Bet League Two win.
"The first half especially was really good," said Pell. "We dropped our standards a little bit in the second half, but by then they had absolutely nothing to lose.
"They gambled a lot and it was either us going to score six or seven or them getting back into it. We dug in late on.
"The gaffer went to watch them in the week. We were going to do 15 minutes on team shape after that - instead we did 50 minutes.
"They had a specific way of playing and we knew what we were coming into. We had a game plan and it absolutely worked first half.
"I just thought I'd have a crack - luckily it went in," smiled Pell, reflecting on his sensational opener. "It is nice to get back in and among the goals.
"I took a penalty at Mansfield so I'm on them too. A couple of boys wanted to take me off them after that one, but I just didn't want 'pen' next to my name.
"Hopefully we've given the manager a selection headache now. We just want to push on and see where we can finish in the league."