By Peegs
August 31 2003

The Robins chalked up their 2nd league win of the season as they hammered Leyton Orient 4-1 at Brisbane Road with Bob Taylor bagging his first 2 goals for the club. Now all those Gould out after 2 game merchants must be feeling quite silly after the Robins find themselves in 10th position after scoring 4 goals in the first half.

The only change to the starting line up from the Kidderminster game was the inclusion of Bob Taylor inplace of the injured hat trick hero at Hull - Damian Spencer.

The Robins nearly got off to the perfect start when in the 4th minute they broke away from a corner - which once again saw every player back to do their 'zonal marking' - Grant McCann - called into the Northern Ireland squad and will miss the Northampton game on the 5th - exchanged passes with Kayode Odejyi who got free in the box, however the tall striker could not shoot at goal, he played the ball back to Yates who's effort was blocked by an on coming O's defender.

Kevin Amankwaah - who would be better off playing right midfield instead of right back - nearly gifted Orient a goal soon after. A miss kick from the Bristol City loanee let in Gary Alexander, however the ex Swindon player could only drag his shot wide of Shane Higgs goal to the delight of the tarvelling support from Cheltenham.

With 20 minutes on the clock Cheltenham won a free kick 20 yards from goal, everybody was expecting a trade mark McCann left foot curler, however out of the blue Bob Taylor stepped up and nearly opened his Robins account, he chipped the ball over the wall and had 19 year old Orient 'keeper Glenn Morris beaten, however the woodwork came to the O's rescue as the ball cannoned down and away from the goal line.

Soon after Cheltenham opened the scoring and the goal could have more importance than just helping Town to 3 points. A deep Jamie Victory cross was met by the forehead of Kayode Odejayi who planted his header into the back of the net. This will undoubtedly give the striker more confidence having not found the net in any of his previous league appearances.

A minute later and the Robins were lucky still to be ahead. Darren Jones - who hopefully we will extend his loan to the end of the season - gave away a free kick 25 yards out. Justin Miller struck the ball at goal and it beat Shane Higgs but no the bar as it cannoned off the woodwork and down, O's fans thought the ball had crossed the line but the assistant referee disagreed.

However Cheltenham - still to keep a clean sheet this season - conceeded a goal with 29 minutes on the clock. Matthew Lockwood swund in a cross from mid way inside the Robins half, with the Cheltenham defence seemingly static Wayne Purser got infront of Jamie Victory and planted his header past the helpless Higgs to make the score 1-1.

In an action packed section of the game Cheltenham hit back with a double strike. Darren Jones bagged his first goal for the club - that is before the dubious goals panel looks at the video! - when he struck a shot from 20 yards out which took a wicked deflection off of Greg Heald and into the back off the net with Morris diving the other way!

And with the Cheltenham fans still celebrating the Robins extended their advantage to 2 goals and the scoreline 3-1. Frenchman Bertrand Cozic - who is surely playing his way to a longer contract, I still dont see why Cleverley got a longer deal than him - gathered the ball 30 yards from goal, Bob Taylor made a run off the shoulder of an Orient defender and Cozic threaded a perfectly weighted ball to him, Super Bob kept his cool before planting a shot past Morris and into the bottom right hand corner.

As at Hull the previous week Cheltenham were going goal crazy and another was to arrive 5 minutes before the half time break. A good passing combination between McCann and Amankwaah down the right hand side saw 'Manky' pound his way into the penalty area towards the by line, he managed to cut the ball back right into the path of Taylor who hammered in his 2nd goal of the game and of his Cheltenham career, surely the first of many if he can stay fit.

There was still more action to come in the first half and again it was to the Robins advantage. On 45 minutes Odejayi chased a long ball forward that should have been dealt with by either an Orient defender or the goalkeeper, with the 'keeper outside of his area Odejayi flicked the ball past him but was sived down by a sliding challenge by the goalie. The ref had no sympathy for the young goalie as he showed him a staright red as he was the last man and denied a goal scoring opportunity.

H/T 4-1

Bobby Gould saw no need for any changes at the break but surely told the players not to pick up any silly bookings as the game was basically already won.

Graham Fyfe once again impressed down the left hand side and he was involved with the Robins first chance of note in the 2nd half. A move involving the front pairing of Odejayi and Taylor saw the Scotsman strike as shot wide from the edge of the area. I really think we have a good little player on are hands here for the coming years, well done to Jon Gould for spottign him!

The one black mark of the afternoon for Cheltenham was a head injury sustained by Mike Duff on the hour mark, he had to go off the field but we hope it was just a precautionary measure, Antony Griffin came on for him.

The game was of a lower tempo than the first half with fewer chances and Gould took the opportunity to use his full quoto of 3 subs with further second half substitutions with Devaney coming on for Cozic and Richard Forsyth continuing his come back from injury replacing Taylor with 12 minutes to go. 'Super Bob' left the field to a deserved standing ovation from the travelling support from Cheltenhamshire.

The final score ended 4-1 to Cheltenham and it was a perfect afternoon for the Robins. 2 strikers got their first goals for the club which is always important confidence wise and every player performed on the day, couple that with a move into the top half and 10th and it was a good days work at the office by Bobby's men.

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F/T 4-1

LEYTON OREINT :Morris , Joseph, Heald, Harnwell, Jones (McCormack 46), Purser, Miller (Harrison 44), Brazier, Lockwood, Thorpe (Hunt 64), Alexander.

CHELTENHAM TOWN : Higgs, Amankwaah, M.Duff (Griffin 62), Jones, Victory, Fyfe, Cozic (Devaney 66), Yates, McCann, Odejayi, Taylor (Forsyth 78).

Attendance 3,785