19 March 2022

Michael Duff urges Cheltenham to push on after hitting 50-point mark

19 March 2022

Cheltenham boss Michael Duff wants his team to drive on after a 3-1 home win over AFC Wimbledon took them to the magic 50-point mark.

Goals in the last 10 minutes from Callum Wright, George Lloyd and Alfie May saw the Robins storm back from 1-0 down following Jack Rudoni’s goal at the Jonny-Rocks Stadium, leaving the Dons without a win in 19.

Duff’s men moved into the top half with eight games left, firmly on course to register their highest-ever finish, with 17th to beat.

“50 points is the golden mark when there are 24 teams in the league,” Duff said.

“The way the league is it’s hard for the teams at the bottom to pick up consistent wins and there are enough teams below us so yes probably we are probably safe now.

“But there are still things to fight for and the players have challenges they want to do, so it’s just the first marker.

“We’ll reassess and reset because you don’t want the season to peter out. There are too many things to play for.”

Duff admitted his side did not perform particularly well, but he felt booing from some sections of the crowd in the second half were unjustified.

“We weren’t brilliant and we didn’t move the ball in the first half,” he said.

“I thought it was quite interesting with about 20 minutes to go, our fans start booing us for keeping the ball, which I disagree with because that five-minute spell managed to get them really deep into their half and from that moment they never got out.

“We got on the front foot and managed to build a bit of momentum, which won us the game eventually.”

The Dons led for nearly an hour after Rudoni’s first-half strike.

Rudoni found the net in the 26th minute, seconds after Will Boyle saw a header bounce back off the bar after Elliot Bonds’ cross for Cheltenham, who were then undone on the break.

Cheltenham dominated possession after the break, but they struggled to find a way past a well-organised Dons side, with Nik Tzanev untroubled until the 81st minute.

Aaron Ramsey saw a shot blocked and it fell for Wright to tap in his seventh of the season.

Less than two minutes later, Matty Blair’s cross from the right was nodded in by Lloyd from close range and May added the third in the second minute of time added on to make it 22 for the season in all competitions and complete the turnaround.

Dons manager Mark Robinson admitted the result hurt as his side dropped into the relegation zone.

“I am devastated and we have to find out why this keeps happening,” he said.

“Their crowd are booing and I actually thought we were more comfortable in the second half than we were in the first when they had a couple of opportunities and we got caught out.

“We rectified a couple of things at half-time, but they scored and then got a second really quickly after that.

“It’s hard to have any answers at the moment until I’ve watched the game back, but I felt confident we’d go on and get a second to put it to bed.”

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