“Ultimately the difference was just a little bit of quality in the final third.” – Dan Still reflects on frustrating Cheltenham Town U18 defeat

Cheltenham Under-18s goalkeeper coach Dan Still admitted “the difference was just a little bit of quality in the final third” after they were edged out by Exeter.

A late Alfie Taylor goal proved to be only a consolation as goals either side of half-time saw the Grecians leave with a 2-1 victory at the club’s Seasons training ground.

Still said: “Ultimately the difference was just a little bit of quality in the final third. No team dealt with the weather better than the other they got their goal in the first half when they needed it and I think the first goal was going to be fairly important in the game. 

“We huffed and puffed a bit when we got the ball forward, we were going with the wind against our faces in the first half and we got into good areas in the first half but just lacked a bit of quality. 

“I think they [the strikers], as a collective, they will be a touch frustrated that we haven’t got shots away and we haven’t found that final pass in the top third to create that opportunity because we’ve worked the ball well into good areas but you need a little bit of quality or a little bit of magic in that top third to see you through. 

“Ultimately it’s the same for both sides, you’ve got to deal with the conditions.”

Horrid conditions made for a torrid encounter in the EFL Youth Alliance as wind, rain and snow made for a difficult match in a very close affair. The first shot of the game also went to the away side who saw a shot straight into Parsisson’s hands early on, it was an early glimpse of things to come as neither side would be able to test the ‘keepers too much in a game that found itself lacking.

The hosts’ first sight of goal came just before the twenty minute mark when Josh Aldridge and Adulai Sambu combined to clear an Exeter free kick and counter, finding Felix Miles on the edge of the box but the attacker was unable to get a clear shot off. Their best chance of the first half came thirty minutes in when the ball was fizzed across the face of goal but neither Brandon Liggett nor FA Youth Cup brace scorer Brennan Denness-Barrett could get on the end of it.

The ball then rebounded off an Exeter defender, forcing a very good save from the feet of Andrew Sowden, it was the home side’s best chance of the first half and the best opportunity to find the net but Denness-Barrett was unable to replicate his FA Youth Cup form.

Cheltenham, under the watch of Ashley Vincent and Still, enjoyed a strong period around the half hour mark with good link up play from Miles and Denness-Barrett down the right getting the ball into Charlie Dashfield but his attempted flick only found the Exeter defender.

The pressure and promise was soon put to bed by a moment of magic from Charlie Hanson who beat three men down the right and cut into the box, finding the bottom left corner to put the visitors a goal up on the thirty-seventh minute. Protests from Cheltenham weren’t taken on board by the referee who disagreed with their protests over players going over in the build up to the goal. A rare moment of quality in a drab first half proving to be the difference.

The referee blew for half time and the player went in rather quickly with Exeter a goal ahead. 

The form of the half hour mark was emulated at the start of the second half as it took Vincent’s side less than a minute to win a corner. Will Ramsay played in Denness-Barrett soon after but his cutback was headed away. Good defending meant that the corner and a string of proceeding attacks came to nothing and the visitors preserved their one goal lead. 

As with the first half, Cheltenham enjoyed a dominant period but failed to capitalise and saw the away side take back control. A corner went through to the back post and saw a shot fired into a group of bodies in front of the goal before a corner went all the way over the box for a throw in.

The Grecians came very close to doubling their lead on the sixty-seventh minute when Mitch Beardmore broke free down the Cheltenham right and broke into the box but saw his shot sail agonisingly wide of the top right corner with Parsisson rooted to the spot, both sides were coming close but neither could convert.

The second goal came on the seventieth minute when a poor challenge in the box gave away a penalty which Eli Collins converted. Cheltenham pushed for a goal in the last ten minutes, Skurek forced a good save with a shot from distance on the counter with his effort parried out and the rebound saved once more, it made for a frustrated reaction from the dugout with better chances to be made had the ball been passed instead of hit from distance.

With three minutes to go, Taylor set the game up for an exciting end. A ball in from the right was met by the substitute and fired over a hapless Sowden in the Exeter net to half the deficit. No second goal was to come from the home side and Exeter held on to secure a 2-1 win. Cheltenham finally found the net but it was too late to change the outcome of the game.

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