Cheltenham Town Football Sports

Cheltenham Town’s Liam Sercombe: Bouncing back from Tuesday’s defeat and preparing to face former club Exeter City

High flying Cheltenham Town fell foul of a surprise 3-1 league defeat away at Mansfield Town on Tuesday, with Cambridge United and Forest Green now just one point behind the first placed Robins.

Speaking to the media yesterday, Cheltenham midfielder Liam Sercombe spoke about the result and preparing to face his former club Exeter City on Saturday.

The loss at the start of the week to Mansfield was Sercombe’s first start since recovering from injury and the 30-year old admitted that despite the loss, he was happy to be back on the field from the beginning.

Yeah, it was nice to be back. I felt fit enough, but obviously I’d I just probably need a few more games to get match fitness like anyone else would.

Of course, it was not the result we wanted, but you know we aren’t going to win every single game and it’s just one of them that we have got to put to one side now and and focus on the weekend against Exeter.” 

When asked about whether he, as a more senior member of the squad, is able to keep the squad’s spirits up after a loss, and he said it is all about being hopeful.

Yeah, we kind of we kind of said it after the game. There’s 13 games left and of course it’s tough to win every one of them but you have to be realistic and it’s about bouncing back from a loss like we’ve just had. So it’s about responding now.”

The Robins had won four straight games before their defeat to Mansfield

Sercombe’s two substitute appearances against Port Vale and Southend United prior to the Mansfield game were a good ease back into match fitness for the midfielder. The former Bristol Rovers man felt that the appearances off the bench in those two games were exactly what he needed.

Yeah it does help because it just lets you get back into the feel of it because obviously nine, 10 weeks out is quite a whileAnd yeah, I think I needed the two sub appearances.”

Sercombe is also hopeful that he can start again for the Robins this Saturday against his former side Exeter City, for whom he made 243 appearances between 2007 and 2015. The midfielder said that he still looks out for the Grecians’ results from time to time.

Yeah, they’re one of the results I look out for, I always like to see how my friends are doing and I always want them to do well.

They’ve done a lot for me as a club but obviously on Saturday there’s only one team I want to win and that’s the one I’m playing for.”

Anything other than a win for Sercombe’s side could see them overtaken at the top of League Two at the weekend, with Tranmere, Cambridge and Forest Green all within two points of Cheltenham.

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