On the return of former Manager Michael Duff, Cheltenham Town suffered their worst league defeat of the season after an emphatic 4-0 victory for Barnsley.
Having led the Robins to a league promotion in the 2020/2021 season, Duff left at the end of last season to join Barnsley with this being his first return to the Completely Suzuki Stadium.
With Barnsley unbeaten in their last five, there was little hopes for a home win for Cheltenham with only one win in five for Wade Elliot’s men and it didn’t take long for Barnsley to grab their first.
James Norwood scored the away sides first before a superb volley from Herbie Kane took any glimpse of a Robins revival away from the home side.
Just before the end of the half, Adam Phillips slotted home a penalty after Ziyad Larkeche was tripped in the box by Elliot Bonds.
Jordan Williams completed the scoring in the 74th minute, finishing with a shot off the underside of the bar after Kane’s ball over the home defence. Barnsley have now taken 16 points from a possible 18.
After the game Elliott praised the way Barnsley played but insists that perspective is needed when looking at the result.
“I thought they had good players working hard”, Elliott said to BBC Gloucestershire.
“We struggled with the intensity and physicality and then they bang a couple of worldies and then that’s the game from there”, he continued.
“We do know that in the nature of our league, occasionally we are going to get slapped. We know, that if we catch a good team on a good day, we’re going to struggle to deal with it.
“Again I’m not going to treat today like it’s the end of the world. I’m disappointed, I’m never happy losing but I’ll try and keep it in some sort of perspective.”
The next focus for Elliott and his players will be their Papa John’s Trophy semi-final against Plymouth Argyle tomorrow, where no doubt he and the fans a like, will hope for a much improved performance.
Check out our live blog and more sports stories here.
