After last weekend’s disappointing performance and result against Leyton Orient, City were looking to bounce back against Cheltenham Town.

The Robins were routed to the bottom of the League One table with only 1 point and even more alarmingly, 0 goals. This is the type of stat that would strike fear into many Grecians in the past. Fortunately, this squad and manager seem to be made of stern stuff.

The City ranks were bolstered on Friday with the signings of Caleb Watts (released by Southampton) and Yanic Wildschut (released by Oxford). Both new arrivals were in the match day squad to add some much needed depth. Wildschut certainly has an impressive pedigree after playing for a host of clubs including Cardiff, Bolton, Middlesbrough, Norwich, Oxford and Wigan, where he won promotion as part of Gary Caldwell’s title winning squad. Caleb Watts spent time on loan in League One last season with Morecambe and arrives from the Saints, who are known to produce technically good players through their academy.

This game was never going to be as easy as it looked on paper, and Cheltenham certainly made things tough, playing with a low block and 10 behind the ball for large periods of the game.

It was clear to see from the Bank that if City could get a goal ahead, the game should open up more and allow City greater space to play.

City could have realistically gone in at the break 2 or 3 goals to the good. Robins keeper Luke Southwood showed his promise yet again after impressing against us last season. The ex-Reading shot stopper made a few smart saves in the first half and continued his fine form into the second half, making two saves at point blank range from Trevitt & Mitchell headers, which was followed by Sonny Cox hitting the crossbar in a crazy period of play, created from a sumptuous Reece Cole cross into the box.

Patience was the key for City. It felt that if we continued to play our football, then eventually another chance would come, and when it did, it fell to new boy Watts on the 68th minute. A turn and shot from Trevitt in the box was deflected into the path of Watts, who got his foot over the ball and drilled into the net in front of the Big Bank.

At this stage, it looked like City would push on and score a couple more. Indeed, this could well have been the case if James Scott’s goal soon after the opener had stood. Scott was called offside in what looked like a very marginal call. City boss Caldwell admitted after the game that he felt the disallowed goal knocked the stuffing out of City and it was clear to see that we dropped back into shape, sat off the opposition and were not pressing to our normal intensity at the top end of the pitch.

City’s retreat allowed Cheltenham back into the game and on the one occasion that Cheltenham did break through our back line, the retuning Finn Sinisalo produced a brilliant double save.

This was a rare opportunity on goal for Cheltenham after another colossal performance from our back 3. Pierce Sweeney was as reliable as ever, Alex Hartridge seems in complete control of his game at the moment and Will Aimson is showing why the manager brought him in. His displays this season have been superb so far.

The match ended 1-0, and City returned to top spot in League One (albeit having played a game more than the majority of teams).

There appears to be a real feel good factor around the club at the moment and the connection between the Manager, coaching staff, players and fans is there, as shown by the now customary end of match celebrations in front of the Big Bank.

We follow this up with 3 games in a week (Tues, Sat, Tues). I would expect that where possible, a weaker line up will be played against Reading in the Papa Johns Trophy at SJP on Tuesday. It might also be used for players that need minutes.

An away match against 3rd place Oxford follows on Saturday, which will be a very tough game and a good barometer of how we look as a squad. We can only hope that some of injured bodies are able to return for that one.

The big games keep on coming, with Premier League Luton Town coming to town on the Tuesday following. The Big Bank is now sold out for this game, so hopefully we can try and get a Tuesday night sell out, and who knows, maybe, just maybe, we can provide an upset and get ourselves into the hat for Round 4.

You have to enjoy the good times when they come as you never know how long they will last. These are most certainly good times to be a City fan.