Barlow wonder strike defeats Town

By Peegs
August 18 2002

The Robins travelled to Mersyside to play Tranmere Rovers. Cheltenham were hoping to follow up there good performance on Tuesday against Barnsley against one of the favourites for promotion.

After his goal scoring exploits in mid week Tony Naylor came into the team inplace of Russell Milton who dropped to the bench in his place. The other change to the 16 was scouser Hugh McAuley on the bench instead of striker Damian Spencer.

The Tranmere team included £500k striker simon Haworth, American goalie Ian Feur, ex Liverpool midfielder Alan Navarro and ex Man Utd defender Pat McGibbon.

One noteable absentee was Rovers star man Jason Koumas. The welsh international was subject to a £1.5million pound bid on Friday from WBA but was apparently injured today. Read into that what you will.

Tranmere had there 1st chance in the 1st minute when Alan Navarro struck a free kick over the Robins 3 man wall from 25 yards and keeper Steve Book had to be alert to divert the ball round the post.

Cheltenham had another scare 3 minutes later when lanky striker Jason Price - who was a colleague of Julian Alsop at Swansea- got clear of the Cheltenham defence rounded Steve Book but took the ball to far, the ball eventually came to Alan Navarro who blasted over from the edge of the box.

Cheltenham didn't let Tranmere's early dominance effect them and the 1st chance fel to Tony Naylor on 13 minutes who volleyed just wide from the edge of the D. Just 4 minutes later Naylor had another just which went narrowly over Feur's cross bar. Tony Naylor seemed the most likely Cheltenham player to score in the opening stages.

The Robins continued to press forward and were beggining to impose themselves in the game. In the 18th minute Naylor floated a ball into the box to Alsop who nodded the ball down to Devaney who volleyed the ball into the ground and it bounced straight into Feur's arms.

£500k striker Simon Haworth had his 1st chance of the match in the 24th minute when he headed over from a corner. 2 minutes after that chance a controversial moment in the match occured. A high ball into the box resulted in a tangle between Tranmere forward Jason Price and Cheltenham defender Jamie Victory. The ref waved away Tranmere appeals and pointed only to a corner kick.

A worrying moment for Cheltenham fans happened 8 minutes before ther half time break. Mike Duff headed a Williams corner towards goal, Ian Feur saved the ball but seemed to fumble the ball, Duff followed up and the Tranmere fans thought he caught the keeper late. The referee Mark Cooper called Duff over and issued only a yellow card.

Cheltenham nearly chucked away all of there hard work in the heat 5 minutes before half time. John Finnigan lost the ball on the edge of the Robins box, the ball was played through to Price but luckily for Cheltenham he had strayed marginally off-side.

H/T Tranmere 0-0 Cheltenham

The players emerged from the half time break with no substitutions made by either manager. Cheltenham had a chance straight away. Tony Naylor crossed from the right, his cross was headed out straight to Mark Yates who un characteristically shot weak on the volley straight at Feur. A repeat of the volley in the York match last year would have done nicely!

Ten minutes after the interval saw the 1st activity on the substitutes bench. Tranmere manager Ray Mathias brought on Stuart Barlow inplace of Jason Price. The Tranmere fans didnt sound to happy with the decision to remove Price from the proceedings.

Two minutes after the Tranmere change Cheltenham came as close as you could get to scoring and taking the lead. Right sided midfielder Lee Williams found himself one on one with Feur, he lifted the ball over the advancing keeper only to see the ball strike the inside of the post and bounce to safety. Obviously not happy with what he was seeing Mathias made another substitution 2 minutes later with the introduction of Ian Hume inplace of Kevin Gray. Tranmere also changed shape from a 5-3-2 to a 4-4-2.

It seemed as though a goal would only come if there was a catastrophic mistake or a moment of sheer genius. And the latter reason proved to be the case. Substitute Stuart Barlow - who had only been on the pitch 6 minutes - struck a ball on the half volley from 25 yards and it sailed past Cheltenham goalie Steve Book into the top corner of the net. On the balance of play Cheltenham could count themselves as hard done by.

Gaffer Graham Allner made a double substitution with 20 minutes left on the clock. Hugh McAuley and Russell Milton entered the action and John Finnigan and Lee Williams exited.

Simon Haworth - who had a quiet game overall- had a half chance with quater of an hour to go. A high ball into the box saw him beat 'keeper Steve Book to the ball but his header went harmlesly wide of the Cheltenham goal.

Hugh McAuley tried his luck from fully 30 yards from a free kick but the ball went flying over the bar. Cheltenham made there last sub with 10 minutes to go with the introduction of Paul Brayon. He replaced Martin Devaney but I may have taken off the tiring Naylor and kept on the younger, fitter Devaney.

Although he didn't have long to impose himself on the game Brayson looked sharp and looked as though he had a goal in him. With 5 minutes left he got goalside of the Tranmere defence from a long pass from Jamie Victory but was tackled before he could get his shot away.

Cheltenham continued to press for a deserved equaliser and were encouraged by the miraculous 6 minutes of injury time shown by the 4th official. But things weren't meant to be and the referee blew for full time.

Cheltenham will loook back on the Lee Williams chance 5 minutes before Tranmere scored the winning goal. The lesson Cheltenham can take from this game is whereas in divison 3 you could get away with missing chances you cant in this league. Still a good performance by the lads and the Cheltenham faithful can be happy that the team gave there all for the cause.

TRANMERE ROVERS: Feur, Nicholson, McGibbon, Gray (Hume 57), Sharp, Allen, Harrison, Navarro (Parkinson 87), Melon, Price (Barlow 54), Haworth.

CHELTENHAM TOWN: Book, Howarth, Duff, Walker, Victory, Williams (Milton 72), Yates, Finnigan (McAuley 72), Devaney (Brayson 81), Alsop, Naylor.

Attendance: 6807