Cheltenham Town were held to a 0-0 draw by Accrington Stanley despite having the better of the chances.
With both teams finding themselves towards the bottom of the SkyBet League One table, the points were fought over hard but ended up being shared.
Wade Elliott made three changes to last week’s defeat to Bolton Wanderers. Aidan Keena was handed a starting debut, whilst Dylan Barkers made his first league start of the campaign and Liam Sercombe returning to the starting eleven.
The first opportunity of the match fell the way of the Robins. Quick feet from Sercombe helped him evade his marker, before laying the ball off to Keena. The Irishman fired a cross-field pass to Alfie May, who slid Taylor Perry through on goal. Lukas Jensen came out to narrow down the angle and got down well to parry the shot wide for a corner.
Shaun Whalley had the visitors’ first clear sight of goal after turning inside of Caleb Taylor. He lined a shot up with his left foot from the edge of the box, but his effort flew a couple of feet over the crossbar.
A counterattack lead by May and Perry nearly cut right through Accrington. Perry eventually slipped the ball round the corner for May to try and curl goalwards, but he could only find the side netting at the near post.
Just before half time the visitors had another good opportunity, this time falling the way of Sean McConville. After Rosaire Longelo crossed towards the back post, the ball fell kindly for the Accrington skipper, but his firm shot was straight at Luke Southwood, who was able to gather at the second attempt.
Within 60 seconds of the restart, Keena took advantage of a mix-up between two Accrington defenders and unselfishly laid the ball off to May, who was arriving late on the edge of the six yard box. However, May’s shot from close range flew past the right-hand post.
When Sercombe released Ryan Broom down the left wing, the Welshman decided to go it alone, beating his marker for pace before trying to squeeze a shot past Jensen at his near post, but the Accrington ‘keeper was able to beat the ball behind for a corner.
An inch-perfect pass from Sean Long was met by a delightful touch from Sercombe, who then shot across goal with Jensen at full stretch to keep it out.
A slick corner routine from the Robins ended with May looking to whip a shot into the far corner with his right foot. Jensen could only watch as the ball flashed towards goal, but was relieved to see it clear his post.
The Robins continued to have the better of the chances, with May going close once again with a good opportunity. Quick feet from Ryan Jackson saw him skip past the challenge of Sangare before delivering a low cross across goal. Stretching at the back post, May tried to prod the ball towards goal but Jensen was in the right place at the right time to save.
Despite causing some trouble from Jackson’s long throws, the Robins couldn’t quite find a finishing touch, and were eventually made to settle for the draw.
Robins: Southwood (GK), Long ©, Taylor, Raglan, Jackson, Broom, Barkers (Brown 74’), Sercombe, Perry (Olayinka 90’), May, Keena (Goodwin 66’)
Unused: MacDonald (GK), Baggott, Sambu, Norton
Accrington: Jensen (GK), Coyle, Whalley (Leigh 69’), McConville ©, Longelo, Sangare, Pressley (Butler-Oyedeji 69’), Martin, Quirk, Pickles, Fernandes
Unused: Isherwood (GK), Clark, Perritt, O’Brien, Woods
Referee: W Finnie
Attendance: 4325 (111 away)