It’s calmer Waters for Johnson’s Robins...

GARY Johnson said he felt like a massive weight had been lifted from his shoulders by Cheltenham Town’s win over his old club.

The 61-year-old admitted he had been feeling the strain after Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat at Stevenage, but thanks to goals from Tin Plavotic and Billy Waters he was able to enjoy his Saturday evening.

“My missus has noticed it because I was nervy all week,” Johnson said.

“I tried not to be and before the game I had to show the lads a video of good things they have done recently, because the build-up to the game was very focused indeed.

“We knew we had to battle and compete with them and we did.

“Out there on a tough pitch it isn’t going to be beautiful football, so you have to show quality when you can.

“We did for the goal and for the penalty and saw the game out fantastically.

“We had to deal with 300 headers and a lot of second balls too. We have a group who can rise to it when they need to.

“We are in this little competition at the bottom of the league and this is one result, but it was a very important one.”

Yeovil boss Darren Way, who knows Johnson well from their days together at Huish Park, felt his side let themselves down in the second half after a solid show before the break.

“We played very well in the first half,” he said. “We knew it was going to be a difficult task because of the position they’re in and we have to start looking at that now.

“I take total responsibility as manager of the football club.

“I knew when I took over that it’s not easy to manage at times. I have to make sure that I take the responsibility and I deal with the situation that we’re in and make sure we move forward.

“When you look at the character, and the personalities and the responsibility – I’ve talked about that all week. The performance levels weren’t there in the second half like they were in the first. I’d be disgusted with that second-half performance.”

Yeovil forward JeanLouis Akpa Akpro’s low shot against the post in added-on time was the closest either side went to breaking the deadlock.

Giant Bristol City loan defender Plavotic opened the scoring on 48 minutes, heading in James Rowe’s free-kick from the right.

The result was wrapped up in the 63rd minute when Matt Butcher caught Kyle Wootton in the box. Waters made no mistake from the spot.