Cheltenham Town 6 Buxton 2
18:13, 06 Dec 2025
All’s well that ends well?
Yes, I suppose you can look at it like that. It was Buxton’s day and they had a really good following. Their support was really good at the end of the day, so it’s been their day. I know at 2-1 up at half-time they might have wanted more out of the game, but we upped it a bit in the second half and we were better. We played against some really strong conditions as well in the first half, that weren’t there in the second. Whoever keeps turning this wind-ometer up when we are at home, I need them to keep it turned on for the second half! It seems as though every time we defend the home end, the wind goes down it and all of a sudden it drops. That’s happened in two or three games now. Something we need to look at, maybe.
What were your thoughts at half-time?
Calm, all calm, all measured. We knew what we were doing, we just had to execute the plan a little bit better and we did that in the second half. They are a decent side and they’d have been ready for it. They brought a couple of players back in, another loan player in, one of their best players back in to give them another dimension. This was a really tricky game for us. We needed to make sure we navigated our way around it. We still should have been four goals to the good in the first half, definitely. We had balls flashing across the posts, a couple of shots when we didn’t quite hit the target, but we could have easily scored four or five in the first half. All of a sudden that scoreline wouldn’t have looked as tricky as it looked. I know what’s happened, when I haven’t been here, about the Alvechurches that have happened. We prepared the lad as well as we possibly could, like we do every week. We prepared them well and we didn’t take them lightly at all. It might look like we did in the first half, but no we didn’t. We made a mistake that anybody can make and we gave away a silly free-kick and that can happen. Sometimes when you are so desperate to do well, you get desperate in the challenge, rather than staying on our feet. We did that and all of a sudden you are defending that end, really strong wind that whips across and anything can happen.
At half-time you made the change with Robbie Cundy on for Scot Bennett. Was that a planned one?
I didn’t think Scot would have played all the game anyway and it was the toss of a coin between them as to what I looked at in there, whether I played Jonathan Tomkinson there, whether I changed the full-back. The trouble is at the moment, when you make too many changes, it disrupts them. We had Arkell (Jude-Boyd) probably back a week early, thanks to the physios and the doc. We had Sam, Willo and JT (Tomkinson) and then we lose Arkell for four weeks, then we lose Sam. You nearly always want your back four to have some continuity and get used to each other. It was an ideal opportunity for me to give Scotty Bennett an opportunity and to give Robbie Cundy an opportunity and also for Hakeeb Adelakun to have an opportunity. I felt in today’s game, their fitness, the two lads at the back have been training for a good three weeks, Haks has probably been training a little bit longer, but this was my opportunity and now I will get my head around how the team looks for Tuesday (Swindon away).
Hakeeb Adelakun made an impact, didn’t he?
Yes, but I don’t think we’ve seen the best of Haks. Haks is better than that, if you know what I mean. Let’s see how we do. I think we’ve done everything right with him, we’ve been careful and trained him hard. What we don’t want is any more hiccups with injuries, which we probably may have here throughout the season. The pre-season is so, so important and then you can build off the back of that.
How is Ryan Broom?
It looks like he might have nicked his hamstring. I don’t quite know. We had to take him off straight away and we had Arkell, but we also had Darragh (Power) on the bench, for that right hand side, who I was thinking of putting on. But it was an opportunity to give Arks some minutes. Darragh hasn’t played either, but it was an awkward one to make that change, but it worked out all right in the end, thankfully.
You must be pleased with the second half, to come out and score five goals
Yes, of course I am. But there’s no credit for today. We are humble, we did our job, but it’s Buxton’s day and not about us.
Useful prize money too
Yes, oh yes. That’s good prize money now, £120k for two games, which isn’t bad.
Do you want a big one now in round three?
Yes, the biggest team we can get, wherever it is. Batten down the hatches, take the money and run home!
You made a point of acknowledging the Buxton fans after the final whistle, which was a nice gesture
Yes, I thought about doing it before the game. The only thing I was dreading was if I had to go and applaud them if it’d stayed 2-1, but it was their day. You have to be humble enough to do it. I’ve spoken to the boys about being humble all week. They have been because they are a down to earth group of good lads. Cheltenham Town have no divine right to win anything here. But what we have done over the last 20-25 years is win a few things. We’ve had a bit of success, but we have to make sure we are that down to earth club, working hard and giving honest performances if we can.
Five goals in a half good for confidence, whoever they are scored against?
Yes, maybe. Confidence is a big thing isn’t it. I am more interested with the football we play and them having solutions to get out of things. We found them in the second half. A lot of the patterns you have won’t be the same in every game, so when their formation changes, we have to adapt if we don’t want to change our formation. We did it. They ended up with two up and two pressing, we dropped down and built in a three. The outside centre-backs stepped out and we ended up seeing James Wilson on the left wing. I want us to work hard, love the game and I talk to the players about that. If they love the game, it’ll make them a better player. They all work hard, they are good lads and do you know what? They haven’t done too bad for me so far.
Scot Bennett has a lot of experience and will that help him recover from what must have been a difficult first 45 minutes back after a long-term injury?
It was a difficult one for Scotty. He made a mistake, but anyone can make a mistake – let’s be clear with that. I felt I had to make that change at half-time, that probably hurt me doing it as much as it did Scotty. Let’s not talk too much about that because it’s a decision I made, he totally accepted my decision and let’s just enjoy today as a whole.
