Western Daily Press (Saturday)

We believe staying up is possible, says Clarke

- JON PALMER jonathan.palmer@reachplc.com

CHELTENHAM Town’s players firmly believe that they can escape the drop this season, according to boss Darrell Clarke.

Following a run of three wins last month, the Robins have picked up just two points from their last four games, leaving them four points from safety ahead of this afternoon’s trip to Oxford United.

The manager admits form has dropped since wins over Cambridge, Blackpool and Port Vale, but with a quarter of the season still to play, he is adamant they can get out of trouble.

“Results have taken a bit of a dip and that can happen,” Clarke said. “We are going to lose games at League One level, it’s as simple as that, but the spirit is magnificen­t.

“There is a real togetherne­ss and it’s all about how we react and bounce back now. We are right in the mix and everyone would have taken this position after the first quarter of the season.”

Today will be Clarke’s 13th match against Oxford as a manager – more than any other club.

Goals from Rob Street and Will Goodwin earned Cheltenham 2-0 home win over the Us in November, with Street sent off just before halftime in what was Des Buckingham’s first game in charge of Oxford.

Goodwin has since left to join Oxford in a £400,000 deal and he has so far scored once in five substitute appearance­s for his new club, who now lie seventh, three points outside the play-off places.

“Oxford are a good, technical team and they can hurt you if you give them the opportunit­y,” Clarke said.

“They have good players and a healthy budget, so they are expected to finish in the top six.

“We are the underdogs in every game in this division, but we go into every game believing we can own it and we need to turn around this dip in form as quickly as possible, so that starts on Saturday.

“The players really believe we can do it and I believe we can do it, so we’ll keep working away.”

Cheltenham, who have the lowest budget in the division, are bidding to create club history by securing a fourth successive season at League One level. Clarke praised the fans for their backing since he took over at the end of September, taking on a team who had taken one point from their opening ten games and failed to score a goal.

Since then, they have picked up 33 points, which is the highest number for any Robins manager in their first 25 games at League One level.

“The fans have been magnificen­t,” Clarke said. “They understand what I took on when I came in and they understand the situation we are in.

“They’ve been great, but it’s up to my team to lift expectatio­ns, which have grown, and we have to put on performanc­es our fans can be proud of. When I came in, we hadn’t had the results we’d like in the first quarter, so it was up to us to get the fans behind the players and you do that with performanc­es.”

Clarke confirmed his players and staff will be attending day one of this year’s Cheltenham Festival after their Tuesday training session.

“We’ll certainly have a good day at the races to kick on for the last ten games,” he said.

“At all the clubs I’ve had success, we’ve built that spirit,” he said. “If people are getting along with each other, if your teammate makes a mistake, you’ll give it even more to help them out of that situation and that’s what I like to build. We are in a world where there is a lot of criticism of players and performanc­es, with social media and so on, so we need to build that sense of belonging.”

 ?? Geoff Caddick/EFL ?? Cheltenham celebrate scoring against Oxford earlier this season – but Will Goodwin could be lining up in yellow today
Geoff Caddick/EFL Cheltenham celebrate scoring against Oxford earlier this season – but Will Goodwin could be lining up in yellow today

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