Cheltenham 1 Plymouth 2

Last updated : 24 August 2002 By Footymad Previewer

Plymouth Argyle made it three wins from their opening four matches in Nationwide Division Two after coming from behind to beat Cheltenham Town at Whaddon Road.

The home side have now taken only one point from their opening four fixtures, and once again played some good football only to be undone by a lack of sharpness in attack and defence.

Plymouth should have taken the lead after only 90 seconds when Lee Hodges headed wide from an unmarked position from a cross by David Beresford, but Cheltenham went on to play the better football in the first half with young striker Damian Spencer causing plenty of problems through the middle.

Spencer was the man responsible for the opening goal, scoring with a measured shot from the edge of the box after Tony Naylor had shuffled the ball to him from a throw-in.

Plymouth goalkeeper Romain Larrieu made a fine save from Spencer shortly before half-time, but the match turned on the hour mark following an enforced Argyle substitution.

Left-back Brian McGlinchey was forced off with a serious injury and replaced by forward Blair Sturrock. The line-up switched to 4-4-2 and almost immediately Cheltenham goalkeeper Steve Book was clawing away a long-range shot from Beresford.

Graham Coughlan headed Plymouth level from the resulting corner and 15 minutes later the Devon side had the lead. Cheltenham's Mark Yates was penalised for a needless push on David Friio and Wotton smashed the resulting free-kick past the two-man wall, over the goalkeeper and in.

Cheltenham substitute Martin Devaney forced a good save from Larrieu in injury time but the visitors ended the game in far better shape than the way they started it.

"We were really poor in the first half but the players responded well to the rocket I gave them at half-time," said Argyle manager Paul Sturrock.

"Credit to Cheltenham because they could have been two or three up at the break, but I thought we edged it in the second half."

Cheltenham manager Graham Allner said: "Their first goal was the one that caused us the problems and we have to start believing in ourselves. It is still early days for us and I don't see a massive gulf between us and the other sides we have played."