19 February 2022

Michael Duff lost for words following Cheltenham’s stunning comeback

19 February 2022

Cheltenham manager Michael Duff admitted his side’s 5-5 draw with Wycombe was “madness”.

Alfie May scored four goals for the Robins, with Kion Etete also on the scoresheet as the Robins came from 3-1 and then 5-3 down to take a share of the spoils.

Jordan Obita and Sam Vokes scored two apiece for the Chairboys, with Brandon Hanlan also on target.

Duff said: “I probably don’t have the vocabulary to describe that properly. In the end, if it had been 0-0, everyone would have said ‘what a fantastic point’, so we’ll take the point.

“The spirit we’ve shown, we needed to be better. The Alfie chance in the first half to make it 2-0 was going to be a key moment in the game.

“It clearly wasn’t, but it didn’t pan out any way that anyone would have thought.

“The goals were terrible, but Wycombe will say the same. The main thing I’ll take from it is the spirit and togetherness. To get back from 3-1 and then to concede two in two minutes again, three goals in six minutes and two goals in two minutes, it’s madness.

“It is not often you score five goals away from home either, so it’s a good point, hard-earned against a very good team.

“We have created numerous chances. Liam Sercombe had a good chance at the end, so we had the better opportunities, but conceding five goals is never ideal.”

Wycombe boss Gareth Ainsworth said: “It was a crazy game. Crazy that we were two goals up twice and we have drawn a game.

“Hugely disappointing in that second half, our defensive display – and that’s not defenders, it’s everybody, the whole team.

“We weren’t good at all second half. Nevertheless, we have scored five goals, and that’s brilliant. The lads have done well going forward and I’ve asked for that, and we’ve worked on that.

“But we’ve been so solid lately and I didn’t see that coming. We were open at times, thrashing at things, not talking, two people going for the same header, people missing headers, and it was unrecognisable.

“For such a solid outfit that we’ve been and for a team who pride themselves on being solid, we looked pretty open today, and that has got to be looked at in a big way because if you score five goals at home, you expect to win a game.”

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