Robins can’t give Johnson any cheer

CHELTENHAM assistant manager Russell Milton claims his troops can’t afford to feel sorry for themselves after they lost their first game since Gary Johnson’s heart surgery.

Boss Johnson is recovering from the surgery he underwent this week, meaning Milton is standing in for the forseeable future.

Cambridge’s Medy Elito notched the only goal in the second minute against his old loan club but with eight games left to maintain their seven-point advantage over the bottom two, Milton is looking ahead.

“I said to the players I am not going to mope around, or be down about things,” he said.

“We have to look forward and it was an opportunity missed because of the other results going our way.

“We had a lot of territory and a lot of play, producing some good stuff, but it was in and around the box, it didn’t quite drop for us.

“We had a good opportunity, but they went down the other end and we switched off to allow them to score, which ended up being the killer moment.

“I said to the lads we have to move on and Barnet away next week is another opportunity.”

Meanwhile, U’s boss Shaun Derry was ecstatic with the way his side handled the conditions and the loss of Elito, who was forced off with injury inside half-an-hour.

“We didn’t want the pitch to affect our performance and we had a gameplan that went out of the window after 20 minutes when Medy came off,” Derry said.

“We hung in there and were dogged and determined and really organised as a group of 11 bodies.

“I don’t think Will (Norris) has had a save to make. They’ve had a bit of possession and a bit of territory, but we had two or three really good chances.

“It was a tight game and it was a horrible game but you come out and win 1-0 – you get your three points and that’s all that matters.”

The Robins threatened when Jack Barthram headed Carl Winchester’s cross towards Danny Wright, but Scott Wharton just about intervened.

Elito then scored with a diving header from Luke Berry’s perfect cross.

Cambridge were on top and only a fine stop from Scott Brown kept out Paul Lewis’ header.

Cheltenham improved after the break as Billy Waters nodded Barthram’s cross wide.

Brown blocked well to deny Gerry McDonagh, but Wharton was then force to clear off the line to deny Wright in the 74th minute.