A youthful Cheltenham Town reserves side overcame Forest Green in their latest Central League Southern section fixture at the Energy Check Seasons Training Ground on Tuesday.
Russell Milton and Antoine Thompson's squad featured just two first team players in Johnny Mullins and Matt Bower, with the rest of the side made up of under-18s and under-16s from the club's academy set-up.
Goals from scholarship duo Will Dawes and Tom Handley secured a 2-1 win. Forest Green did find the back of the net with a penalty close to full time, but despite naming a number of senior players, including highly rated forward duo Shawn McCoulsky and Reuben Reid, they struggled to get past the young Robins.
Dawes showed his early intent when he pressed high on six minutes and successfully won the ball in the final third, only to see his resultant low shot skip past the post.
Just a minute later though the current Tuffley Rovers loanee was rewarded for his persistence in front of goal when he slammed in a stunning left-footed long-range effort which flew into the top corner.
Tom Chamberlain's free kick offered Bower the chance to head towards goal before two superb stops from goalkeeper Freddie Lapworth denied the visitors.
Lapworth firstly recovered from slipping to block McCoulsky's strike when one-on-one, and he then denied one of FGR's January spending recruits again when he covered good ground to claw away another attempt.
After the break Cheltenham added to their lead early in the second half. A corner headed towards goal by Bower wasn't cleared by the little club on the hill, and Handley was on hand to slam in the free ball inside the area.
Both teams made numerous changes in the final half an hour. It took until right at the end of the contest though for the away side to find their way past Lapworth.
Young forward Dan Ogunleye took advantage of a late penalty kick to power in to halve the deficit, though it was too little too late, as Cheltenham held on to secure victory.
ROBINS RESERVES: F Lapworth, J Mullins (I Richards), M Bower, W Dawes, A Brennan, T Handley, T Briscoe, C Duncan, A Basford (C Ebanks), T Chamberlain (G Horton), C Stanton (M Scott)
Subs not used: A Avenall