Gary Johnson relieved as Cheltenham knock out Colchester

Posted Wednesday, August 15, 2018 by PA

Cheltenham manager Gary Johnson was a relieved man after seeing his side hold their nerve to knock Colchester out of the Carabao Cup on penalties.

The first-round tie finished 2-2 after 90 minutes, with Colchester hitting back from two goals down to force a shoot-out.

Following two defeats in League Two, Cheltenham’s season is now up and running as Jordon Forster converted their seventh penalty before Courtney Senior blazed his over the bar for Colchester.

“I am just pleased the lads have won a game,” Johnson said after the 6-5 penalty success. “I felt we won it twice because we were 2-0 up and they threw caution to the wind and got their luck.

“I was pleased with most of the game and some of the boys are at least showing what they can do and some of them aren’t quite ready fitness wise.

“There are a lot of things I was pleased with, especially the mental toughness after being 2-0 up and then having to go to penalties.

“I am pleased for the boys that they can have a few days enjoying a win.”

Cheltenham opened the scoring less than a minute in when Ryan Broom slotted a shot past Dillon Barnes on his full debut.

Cheltenham were awarded a penalty in the 71st minute when Jacob Maddox was brought down by Barnes.

Conor Thomas stepped up and scored from the spot on his Cheltenham debut to make it 2-0.

Sammie Szmodics reduced the arrears in the 79th minute, finishing neatly past Scott Flinders after charging down a clearance from Joshua Debayo.

Less than a minute later Norris smashed a shot into the net from 20 yards to level the scores.

Thomas, Ben Tozer, Broom, Kalvin Kalala and Johnny Mullins were all successful from the spot, with Tom Smith missing Cheltenham’s third penalty.

Luke Norris missed Colchester’s first kick, but Harry Pell, Szmodics, Frank Nouble, Frankie Kent and Brennan Dickenson all converted before Senior’s costly miss.

“We showed a lot of character to come back into the game” said U’s boss John McGreal.

“I thought Cheltenham were by far the better team in the first half and caused us problems in midfield with their inverted wingers.

“We couldn’t get to grips with it and we couldn’t get that balance. We had to address that at half-time and I thought that we did that.

“We started okay in the second half but then it went into a bit of a lull and I thought that we needed to freshen things up.

“No sooner than that, we started to gain territory in and around their box but then we gave a penalty away.

“We showed a lot of character to come back and score a couple of goals and we thought the onus would then be on us in the penalty shoot-out.

“But it didn’t work out that way and it’s not a nice way to go out. It’s a bit of a lottery and I’d like to see a bit more personality in those penalties, to put the opposition off in some way.

“We were too nice in a way and it’s something I’ve alluded to in the dressing room.”