Cheltenham manager Michael Duff said he was quite happy with last night’s 0-0 draw at Portman Road, in which frustrated Blues fans chanted ‘Boring, boring Cheltenham’ in the second half, having had enough excitement during Saturday’s 5-5 draw at Wycombe Wanderers.

The Robins spent much of the second half breaking up the flow of the game with frequent stoppages for injuries while taking their time over every set piece.

“To be honest, I thought their crowd was more interested in us than they were supporting their own team in the second half, which probably tells you everything,” Duff told Gloucestershire Live.

“Boring, boring Cheltenham? We had enough entertainment on Saturday, so I’m quite happy with a 0-0.”

Reflecting further on his side's performance, he added: “I couldn’t be prouder. To come away to a team who have won seven in the last 10, after Saturday, you look around and see the size of the club, the players they have and we’ve come here with 14 players really.

“Longy [Sean Long] has not really trained, Jamie [Soule] we don’t know that much about and the team changed this morning because Sercs [Liam Sercombe] was ill.

“We have seen the number of bodies that weren’t involved through injury and to be honest, other than Owen [Evans] making one save, I am not sure he’s had a lot to do.

“We were better second half, when I thought we had as many chances, if not more, than them.

“We are under no obligation to try and come here and take them on, toe-to-toe in a football match. We kept our shape and discipline and the character that the lads showed at the end was magnificent.

“We had quite a few playing who hadn’t played for quite a long time and you see them going down with cramp and it’s genuine, it’s not time-wasting.

“The worst thing you can get in football is cramp, it’s horrible. Once you get it, you can’t seem to get rid of it, but that spirit and togetherness, I’ve told them before, everyone will be used and everyone will be needed. It’s a really, really important point.”

That point was Cheltenham's first at Portman Road having been beaten on their previous two visits in the Southern League back in the 1936/37 and 1937/38 seasons.

Photo: Action Images

Phil1969 added 21:46 - Feb 23 Shakywker at some point I suspect we will be probably not in current environment unless your maths are better than mine. Give it a season or few! “Supporters” like you are best up the roooud!
-2

shakytown added 04:32 - Feb 24 Phil. With that sort of comment you have the breeding of them up the rrroouud. Is calling someone a childish rude name the best you can come up with??? Pathetic sonny boy.
-1

Bert added 10:07 - Feb 24 Duff is choosing to ignore the countless occasions that his players tried to fool the referee. It was there for all to see and thankfully this ref had none of it. Time wasting is one thing but blatant cheating is another. Yes they defended very well but in my opinion they showed contempt, were unprofessional and are very unlikely to progress beyond where they are now. Boring, boring Cheltenham is the correct label whatever their manager thinks.

0

Blogs 298 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls