The weekend just gone saw Cheltenham record a 1-0 victory over Burton Albion thanks to an 86 minute winner courtesy of Chris Zebroski. This result ensured that Cheltenham remain in third place in League 2, level on points with second placed Port Vale and five points behind the leaders Gillingham.
That result continued Cheltenham's outstanding league record of just one loss in eleven league games with seven of those being victories; a record which firmly cements the Robins' status as one of the form teams in the league. However with the likes of Gillingham and Port Vale continuing to catch the eye with several high scoring matches it can be argued that Cheltenham have slipped under the radar. When asked by friends how Cheltenham are doing in the league, the response of third place normally comes as a shock. Mainly due to the fact that once again this season Cheltenham were not seen as promotion candidates and that most of the results have been by the odd goal so have not really caught the eye of the neutral watching final score.
Despite this astonishing run of form, it can be said that the performances have not been of the same quality. A lot of results have been ground out by solid defensive displays although there have been some signs of good quality attacking football, the first half at Gillingham and the 3-0 victory over Exeter for example. There are also worrying signs on the goalscoring front. Since his injury, Shaun Harrad has been a totally different player a not been able to find his scoring boots from the first month of the season. From the start of October the Rubies have scored a total of 11 league goals in 8 games however the only strikers to score are Zebroski who has two goals and Goulding who has one in this period. The rest have come considerably from midfield and the likes of Carter and Mohamed.
In reflection, although this may seem as a moan, it is quite the opposite. Even though we haven't been playing great and our strikers havent't been hitting the back of the net we are still third in the table. Footballing greats have always said that the best teams are those that pick up points despite below par performances and in order to do that you need to keep clean sheets. We are doing both. So the question is, how far can we go this season? If performances improve then surely we are in with a shout of automatic promotion and we are definately among the best seven sides in the league so far which means the playoffs should be a minimum. We could also dream of winning the league, or is that a little too far? All we need is for the performances to come and for the teams around us to have a wobble at some stage and we are in with a shout.
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