Michael Duff was happy with his team's shape but admits that soft defending was their undoing in the 4-0 pre-season defeat to Championship side Bristol City.
A first half hat-trick from Duff's former Burnley teammate Nahki Wells and Andy Weimann's late fourth helped a strong City side to victory in the Robins' third pre-season outing at Ashton Gate.
"I actually thought in the first half there was nothing between the teams," said Duff. "We created as many chances as they did but gave up poor goals.
"The shape of the team was good, they had a lot of the ball so that’s what we expected.
"People will look at the score-line and think we got battered, I don’t think we got battered at all. It was a good work out and they’re a good team."
Though the Robins boss was pleased with certain aspects of Cheltenham's performance, he conceded that the mentality of it being a pre-season freindly ultimately proved costly at the back.
"I think we still have got that desire to defend it’s just sometimes with a pre-season friendly that mentality is just a little bit softer and that showed in the goals," he added.
"I'm confident in the shape of the defence after how we defended last year. It's not a given, but it does show that when you don't get down to the real detail and determination to defend your goal then that's what can happen against that opposition."
You can watch Duff's full interview by logging in or registering on iFollow if you haven't already.
You can watch via your browser, on your phone or by using the CTFC mobile app - just search for it on your smartphone.