Echoes of the Peterborough match last season would have rang round The Abbey Business Stadium on Saturday , in what was one of the most extraordinary starts to a game many of us would have witnessed. None of us in the press box could quite believe what was happening and indeed keep up with events on the pitch. 9 goals in total , 5 in the opening 20 minutes , 3 Cheltenham substitutions in the first half made for very entertaining fare  . On looking at the past performances of Bradford this season , literally 2 minutes before kick off , I noticed they hadn’t scored a goal which set off mild ringing alarm bells in my mind.

Its sometimes difficult writing this column as by now (on aThursday ) players would have  have moved on from the previous Saturday and will now be focusing on the next game , but how can the two managers  legislate for some of the comical defending that went on from both sides? Simple answer , they can’t . From what was a tight defensive unit in the previous three games , suddenly became bedraggled and open , although this couldn’t have been helped by early injuries and substitutions to Duff and Bozanic. There are always two ways of looking at this scoreline . Was it good attacking play or bad defending. Certainly for me and I think the majority of managers they will always look to the defensive side as to a large extent  you can try and do something to rectify this part , preferring a 1 – 0 win as opposed to a 5 -4. Fans will disagree as they’d want goals galore as long as their team came out on top  , but professionally it is harder to counter act to something that you can’t do too much about in the heat of battle . Attacking wise , you often have to leave things in players minds and abilities that once they get into forward positions they do the right thing.

Cheltenham were very slow starting and looked slugglish in most areas of the pitch , with possibly only David Hutton providing most of the sparks during the 90 minutes , with a little assistance from one or two others at intermittent times. Evidence in this can be seen in four of the five goals conceded , the second one the impressive Evans ghosting past two defenders and slotting in , the third a free header from a near post corner , the fourth two unchallenged touches from Bradford players , the fifth an own goal that may have been avoided on another day . 

Elvis Hammond again demonstrated a unique ability to do the unexpected and showed some great hold up play , either drawing fouls and gaining ground or twisting and turning sharply . It was a pity he had to come off on the stroke of half time . Another goal will do him the power of good , to keep  his tally totting up . Most forwards would prefer to “keep the scoreboard ticking over”  rather than go 5 or 6 games without scoring and then get two or three . Justin Richards will have gained a lot of confidence from his two strikes , the first a fantastic overhead kick , now its important for him to keep himself in the team with consistent displays and notches on the score sheet. Whilst it is obviously important for forwards to score the majority of goals , thus far after four games (and it is early days) only Michael Townsend and Lee Ridley outside of the forward line have scored . With Cheltenham’s squad size it may become important during the season that goals come from a variety of positions , particularly from oncoming midfield players who can be difficult to pick up .

Positves to take out of Saturday . The fact we scored four goals shows Cheltenham are creating and taking chances and not many teams who score four will lose this season . Also coming back 3 times and then also nearly snatching a point at the end and if Julian Alsop’s fair challenge on the keeper hadn’t been penalised we  could well have come away with a share of the spoils . That is still 7 points out of 12 and if continued would see us in the promotion mix up . A long way off I know but you can hope . We also saw evidence on Saturday of how close this league will be this season with anyone capable of beating another.   

The week between games will have allowed the squad time to go over things , take stock and move on to the next couple of fixtures against Darlington and Torquay . This brings me  on to this Saturday and a very dangerous looking game at Darlington . Always a difficult place to go . Law of averages says they will have to get points on the board soon , lets just hope it takes them one further game in which to do that. On closer inspection of their results they have lost by the odd goal on 3 occasions (with two late missed penalties in consecutive games) so it would suggest that a tough game will be at hand on Saturday , of course not helped by Cheltenham’s unfortunate injury position so early in the season .  But nothing better for a player than to put the previous game / result to bed and move on and for one of the new players coming in to stake a claim for a more permanent place in the team .

The experienced Colin Todd and his new number two Dean Windass (whom Robins fans will know well after his clash with John Finnigan) will be itching to get their season off and running and stave off any mounting pressure. So it will be a long trip up north for me and the media boys and no doubt a spot of services car park keepy uppy with Mr Palmer and Toms where they will undoubtedly try and show me a trick or two.