Park Life Sport reporter Ben Ware watched from the home end as Cheltenham Town sealed a famous win on Tuesday night, experiencing all the emotions with the supporters. Here’s what he saw.
It was a historic night that will live long in the memory for all involved as Cheltenham Town beat former Premier League side Sunderland at Whaddon Road on Tuesday. Almost six thousand supporters descended on the Jonny-Rocks Stadium to watch what all thought would be a routine win for the manager-less black cats.
Carl Winchester’s name was met with a chorus of boos, Jermain Defoe’s met with a series of bemused looks from people who clearly don’t follow League One or Cheltenham Town.
Without a win since November, Cheltenham had slowly slipped down into a relegation battle after fine early season form created a false sense of security and saw misplaced confidence and complacency cause the Robins to slowly drop down the league table and towards the dreaded drop zone.
It was a long day for myself, a lecture in the morning, a trip to Bristol and a rush back to Cheltenham to make it in time for kick off. Despite the plethora of fresh faced supporters, we made our way to our normal spot behind the goal (and slightly to the right) and prepared for what could have been a very long night. Anything better than the 5-0 loss I made the nine hour round trip for in September would have been seen as a positive, but we would never have seen what was coming. The away end was packed enough that the cold Tuesday night air couldn’t be felt, nothing seemed able to affect us in the build up to a huge, huge game.
I was confident that we were going to score, almost certain. Having spent the Friday before watching the highlights of every single Sunderland game this season, I figured out how we were going to score, who was going to score and even some semblance of when. I was partly right, as you will see. I was confident enough to make a bet with a mate, winning a fiver and picking up a meal deal on my way home.
It was a strange atmosphere, one where just holding onto the ball was celebrated, a five minute (if that) spell of possession early on was met with cheers and ‘waaaaay’s as Will Boyle, Owen Evans, Ben Williams and Sean Long played the ball among themselves with the opposition giving up on winning the ball and allowing the home side to have their fun. Long balls and risky passes somehow came off, much to the pleasure of us all behind the goal, it was quite the five minutes and was what some would think would be the highlight of the game.
All was wonderful until the half hour mark hit, a silly foul on the edge of the box and a slightly mismatched wall left us all with a sense of impending doom. In all fairness, it was a very good freekick. Alex Pritchard found the top right corner from 24 yards to put the visitors ahead and set us up for disappointment. The 1500 Sunderland fans (and all of the uncounted fans in the home stands, erupted and the night looked to get a little bit longer. It started off a dominant spell as the last fifteen minutes of the first half were all Sunderland, with Ross Stewart seeing a point blank header tipped over the crossbar after hitting it earlier on. As a Mackems supporter I work with at the FAWHPGK Centre said, ‘Cheltenham were lucky to go in only a goal down’.
Half time brought what we expected to be the highlight of the game, the weekly crossbar challenge saw a kid hit the cross bar not once, but twice (with us seeing no hits most of the time) and a chorus of ‘OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH’ to build suspense as all behind the goal shouted ‘SUUUUUU’ to match his CR7 celebration.
The second half was much closer, both teams enjoying their share of possession while myself and my mates were shouting ‘LEFT LEFT’ every time we countered with our voices slowly fading as the game went on. On the 64th minute, Whaddon Road erupted. Behind the goal we’d all wondered why he’s shot from there as it looked to sail over but Uri Geller level manipulation looked to make Elliot Bonds’ long range shot dip under the bar and in to equalise. The tide shifted. The Robins were out for blood.
Michael Duff’s side started to run the game, his players matched Sunderland man for man and we looked to be in for a competitive game. Of course, the same worries always reared their head, we dominate but just can’t score, we control the game but always concede late. But not on Tuesday. Stewart hit the side netting soon after, with half the following contingent celebrating as if it was in, even with our control the game was far from over.
Pritchard had another effort cleared off the line by Pollock before Owen Evans kick was plucked out the sky by Kion Etete who drove forward before being brought down on the edge of the box, the game seemed to have stopped to all but Alfie May who picked up the ball and drilled the ball across goal and into the net. Scenes, just absolute scenes. Fans were on the pitch, I was hugging strangers, COVID safety went out the window. Cheltenham had taken the lead against Sunderland.
Five minutes of added time and full England International Jermain Defoe wasn’t enough as Duff’s red army sealed a famous victory and a massive three points in the battle for safety.
