Cheltenham boss Michael Duff celebrates victory in ‘pivotal’ game

Cheltenham boss Michael Duff celebrated a last-gasp win against Grimsby in a game he described as “pivotal”.

Conor Thomas scored a stoppage-time penalty to earn the Robins a 2-1 home win that moved them four points clear of the relegation zone and within two points of their opponents.

Elliot Embleton looked to have earned Grimsby a point after cancelling out Ryan Broom’s deflected opener for the Robins, but Thomas kept his cool to convert in the final seconds.

Duff said: “There has been a lot of work for five or six weeks to get us into this position and to get to the cusp of being in the pack, so the hard work now starts.

“It’s been a lot of hard work and that’s why this was a pivotal game.

“We didn’t start the game particularly well, we invited them on and it took about 15 minutes (to get settled). After that I thought we were excellent in the first half.

“The same sort of thing happened in the second half and we had a couple of big chances, but the nervousness then kicks in and they go gung-ho because they have nothing to lose.”

Grimsby boss Michael Jolley felt his side were worth at least a point after enjoying a good spell following their equaliser.

“It really is a kick in the proverbials to concede a penalty in injury time,” he said.

“We felt we should have taken something from the game and I felt at 1-1, we’d get at least a draw.

“I don’t think anyone who saw the game will have thought we didn’t have an input.

“We should have capitalised on our chances with a goal.

“We would have handled Broom’s shot comfortably if it hadn’t taken a big deflection.

“We felt that by countering on them we’d get chances and that’s how it panned out.

“We are incredibly frustrated because I thought we were the better team.”