Striking the balance

It was goals galore when Martin Allen first started at Whaddon Road, but now they seem to be drying up at both ends leaving Cheltenham with a real problem. Aside from the Hereford debacle of last weekend, the surrounding four games have seen only four goals conceded. But, less encouraging is that the fact the Robins have only scored three times in that period.

The individual quality of Drissa Diallo and Darren Kenton is now beginning to come through and the back four are now looking to be a more cohesive unit. Scott Brown looks to be Allen’s preferred option between the posts and last Tuesday’s clean sheet at Oldham will have certainly have strengthened his position. The option of the revitalised Lee Ridley at left back also adds further depth to the backline.

But whilst the Robins have tightened up defensively, the attacking success of Martin Allen’s early games seems to have disappeared. His first five league games saw Cheltenham find the net eleven times, with goals flying in just as often at the other end. Frequent changes were to blaim for the defensive frailities here, but as we begin to see a more settled side results fail to improve.

By all accounts, Saturday’s display at Carlisle was quite impressive. The Robins battled hard and had chances to gain a point, but were ultimately denied. The performance of Elvis Hammond was another positive and his natural pace is something that Cheltenham have been craving up front ever since Steve Gillespie’s departure.

So, overall there is much to build on and Martin Allen’s men will go into tomorrow night’s game with Southend in a positive frame of mind. Cheltenham do need to start picking up points soon to prevent becoming stranded in the bottom four. If the frontline can begin to produce the recent form of the backline then the Robins will hopefully find the balance to prevent this.