“He has that excellence in midfield” – Darrell Clarke hails Liam Sercombe’s pivotal impact on Cheltenham

Cheltenham Town manager Darrell Clarke believes Liam Sercombe’s ability to “galvanise” his teammates is key to the success of The Robins this season.

Sercombe scored the only goal against Cambridge United on Saturday thanks to a beautifully-weighted chip over Jack Stevens.

Clarke and Sercombe worked together at Bristol Rovers between 2017 and 2018, so the 45-year-old manager knows what to expect from the midfielder.

“Liam has had the opportunity to work with me before, so he knows how I work and it’s great that my message gets through to then players,” explained Clarke. “With the help of Liam, my message becomes pretty clear about my expectations of the other players.

“The quicker the players can pick up on this the better as every individual is different and Liam is not a lad I need to speak to that often.

“He hasn’t changed one bit from when I last managed him, and he has that excellence in midfield to score goals and galvanise players around him in his own way.

“He doesn’t say a lot, and that’s fine as that is how he has always been, but he lets his football do the talking.”

Sercombe’s goal helped The Robins achieve their first victory of the season, though they still sit on the bottom of the table on five points.

Saturday’s stylish finish was his 11^th goal for Cheltenham, a goal that Clarke was not surprised to see, as he said: “I’ve seen him score some great goals in training because technically he is a very good player; he has been there, done it, and got the t-shirt.

“He’s still hungry for more and that’s the expectations I have on the senior players; it’s not just about keeping in the game, it’s about being hungry for success.”

Looking to build on Saturday’s win, Cheltenham travel to seventh-placed Blackpool for a game under the lights at Bloomfield Road.

“Every game is a challenge no matter if it is home or away,” continued Clarke. “We have to approach it wanting to win the game and that is what we will be hoping to do.

“We need to good under pressure, we need to he calm on the ball, and we need to cause as much stress as possible.

“Blackpool is a team that has just come out of the Championship and they are in the play-off position as things stand; they are expected to go straight back up but we’ll go there and try to pull off a surprise!”