Cheltenham Town head coach Michael Duff has told the club website that they must be better away from home next season following a 2-0 defeat to Stevenage.
This is a season that Cheltenham fans will probably not remember for very long. While they were able to avoid having a fight against relegation, they also didn’t challenge at the top of the table and never threatened the Sky Bet League One play-off places. Despite all of that, they hoped to cap off their season with a win away at Stevenage.
But their away form, which is what has stopped Cheltenham from challenging, ended up being their undoing once again. They avoided an early scare when Scott Flinders was able to save a penalty from Kurtis Guthrie but they wouldn’t be so lucky in the second half. Joe Martin scored on the 56th minute to put Stevenage ahead and the win was sealed when Jordan Gibson doubled that lead.
After the match, Duff said: “The two chances they had in the first half were just two whacks down the pitch, bad decisions from us, and the goal was a set play,”
“First contact, second contact, goal – and then Scott [Flinders] made a bad decision to throw it, so we were the makers of our own downfall today.”
“We moved the ball well first half. There were pockets that we wanted to work on that we have worked on we didn’t quite get into, so I didn’t think there was a lot in the game personally.”
“I’m not that bothered about the result now. I’d rather talk about the progress that has been made, because the last six months has been tough. The players have all bought in. They’ve been unbelievable in regards of they’ve stuck together, and they’ve come out the other end.”
“Yes we’re disappointed that we’ve lost the game because we wanted to win the game. The players know we need to be better away from home. We can be as good at home and as bad away, which is a mentality thing that we need to get to the bottom of. Generally I thought it was an okay performance.”
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