Cheltenham’s reaction at Wycombe delights Wade Elliott

Posted Sunday, April 30, 2023 by PA

Wade Elliott praised the character of his Cheltenham side after they ran out convincing 3-0 winners at Wycombe.

Aidan Keena’s brace and one from Alfie May earned the Robins an away win in League One.

Cheltenham were on the receiving end of a 4-0 defeat at Oxford on Tuesday after securing safety last weekend but responded with a confident performance.

“I thought we were excellent,” Elliott said. “It’s a difficult place to come and their home record is pretty good.

“We dominated pretty much every aspect of the game, scored really good goals, kept a clean sheet and gave an academy debut.

“We had the defeat at Oxford but one thing we’ve always done is react well. That speaks a lot to the character and the honesty of the group.”

Wycombe missed a couple of early chances and the visitors made them pay when Keena converted from the penalty spot in the 37th minute after being tripped in the box by Dominic Gape.

His strike partner May added the second in the 68th minute, thumping in his 19th goal of the season, before Keena capitalised on an error from goalkeeper Harvey Cartwright to make it 3-0 two minutes from the end.

“Our front two look a real handful,” Elliott added. “When you have that threat at the top end of the pitch and a solid platform behind them, you have half a chance.

“Against a really difficult team with some really good players, we pretty much dominated the game.”

Chairboys boss Matt Bloomfield cut a frustrated figure after seeing his side beaten for the third time in four games.

Ryan Tafazolli headed wide and Garath McCleary was denied by an important Lewis Freestone block but Bloomfield was left to rue a lacklustre final home display of the campaign.

“It’s extremely disappointing and I am disappointed and angry,” he said.

“We fell away second half in a manner I wasn’t pleased about.

“It was a difficult walk around the pitch at the end and rightly so because we haven’t performed today.

“We had to front up, stick our chests out and get on with it. We weren’t good enough today.

“I have certainly learned a huge amount about the players today and I have to learn more. You learn a lot more about people in the tough times.

“You learn more about where you need to put things right, so it’s a learning curve for me and the staff today and for the group.

“We came away from the gameplan after starting fairly well, when we posed a threat. We gave the ball away cheaply and it gave Cheltenham the momentum to step on us and they punished us.”