GARY HORROR HOMECOMING

YEOVIL TOWN ensured former boss Gary Johnson made a losing return to Huish Park as their best performance of the season led to a deserved win over his Cheltenham side.

Johnson won three promotions during two spells with the Glovers and also led the Robins to the National League title last season.

But it was his former assistant Darren Way who came out on top as Yeovil took control of the game in the first half, leading 3-1 at the break through goals from Otis Khan, Darren Ward and Matt Dolan.

Strikes from Aaron Downes and Billy Waters kept Cheltenham in the game, but Tom Eaves settled matters in Yeovil’s favour in the 90th minute.

Way said: “Our first-half performance blew me away. We were brilliant in that spell and could have scored more goals.

“Otis Khan had a great game and had been unbelievable in training all week. I tried to give him confidence to take on his marker and he certainly showed that.

“Our young group of players are growing stronger with each game and I’m seeing improvements all the time.

“I saw a dominant performance from players that I trust and we deserved our victory, which makes it back-to-back wins for us.”

Johnson’s Cheltenham are finding life tough on their return to the Football League and he admits his players are low on confidence.

He said: “We lost the game because the opposition wanted to win it more. I had to make early changes because it wasn’t happening for us and we improved for a bit, but it wasn’t enough.

“It looks like we are struggling at this level at the moment so we’ve got to work hard with the players to turn round their confidence. It’s hit the confidence of the players, especially the ones who haven’t played at this level before, and we have to work with them in that.

“We are letting in too many goals and we have to stop that or we a going to be down near the bottom of the table for a long time.”

Yeovil went ahead on five minutes as visiting goalkeeper Russell Griffiths spilled a cross from Eaves and Khan tapped in from close range. Khan then turned provider as his corner was headed in at the near post by Yeovil captain Ward to make it 2-0 on 16 minutes.

After Johnson made a double substitution, Cheltenham reduced the deficit through Downes’ header from Jack Munns’ corner, only for Matt Dolan’s header to make it 3-1 on the stroke of half-time.

After the break the Robins again managed to pull a goal back, Waters converting Rob Dickie’s cross after Artur Krysiak had saved Danny Wright’s penalty.

But in the 90th minute, Eaves sprinted clear of Downes and rounded Griffiths before netting from close range to seal Yeovil’s win.