Cheltenham Town 4-0 Tranmere Rovers - match report

Rovers came into this match knowing that a victory would see them leapfrog the Robins into second place, but a failure to handle the long throw of Ben Tozer ensured that there was never any danger of that materializing.

First half goals from Conor Thomas, William Boyle and Alfie May gave the hosts a comfortable cushion at the break and a sublime second half volley from Callum Wright compounded what was a miserable afternoon for Keith Hill’s side.

Sam Smith wanted a penalty for the Robins in the third minute when he appeared to have his shirt pulled by Paul Lewis in the box, following a throw from Tozer.

But they didn’t have to wait long to go a goal up. From the very next throw in fact.

Another missile from Tozer wasn’t dealt with and when Joe Murphy could only palm away a header, Conor Thomas was there to bundle the ball home.

Cheltenham Town's Sam Smith gets his shot in during the Sky Bet League Two match against Tranmere at the Jonny-Rocks Stadium. Photo: David Davies/PA

Rovers did not appear to be wise to the hosts’ obvious potent weapon, conceding a succession of throw-ins allowing Tozer to cause all manner of problems.

And they found themselves two goals down from precisely the same scenario inside quarter of an hour.

Murphy, deputising for injured goalkeeper Scott Davies, flapped at another Tozer special, before Calum Wright smashed the second ball back into the box, where Boyle diverted it home from close range.

But when George Ray lost the ball in his own half, it was Murphy who came to the rescue, rushing off his line to deny May from making it 3-0 after only 20 minutes.

Rovers were well and truly rattled, but they finally created a chance of sorts when Jay Spearing pulled a 20-yard effort wide of Josh Griffiths’ goal.

Tranmere had the ball in the net on the half hour mark, when Kaiyne Woolery took a cross from Otis Khan, turned, and slammed it into the net, but the goal was correctly ruled out for handball by the Rovers forward.

After a nightmare start, Rovers were beginning to settle into the match. Keiron Morris worked himself an opening 10 minutes before halftime, but his left-footed shot was blocked by a last-ditch lunge.

A loose ball reached Khan 25 yards out, but he could only sky the ball into the stands.

But Rovers had looked unsteady at the back right from the off and when Peter Clarke played a poor ball into the middle of the park, it was latched onto by May, who ran at Ray before superbly slotting the ball past Murphy to make it three.

Tranmere Rovers' Calum MacDonald heads clear during the Sky Bet League Two match against Cheltenham Town at the Jonny-Rocks Stadium. Photo: David Davies/PA

The frustration was written all over the face of Keith Hill, who seemed to not be able to believe what he was witnessing.

Unsurprisingly, he made two changes at halftime, bringing on striker David Nugent and midfielder Danny Lloyd, for Lee O’Connor and Morris respectively.

Rovers could surely play no worse in the second half than they had in the first and the changes did appear to bring a bit of renewed purpose.

But that didn’t stop the Robins from scoring a fourth goal in the 57th minute and once again, a long throw was at the route of the issue.

When Lewis and Khan combined to only clear Tozer’s throw-in to the edge of the box, Wright let fly with a superb volley that left Murphy clutching thin air.

Finally Cheltenham took their foot off the pedal a bit, but goalscoring chances were still like endangered species for Tranmere.

Lewis did have a good opportunity 11 minutes from time, taking on a volley that dropped over his shoulder from Clarke’s flick-on, but he could only blast it over from eight yards out.

This damaging defeat sees Tranmere drop back out of the automatic promotion places, with a point for Bolton enough to move Wanderers into third place.

Rovers won’t have long to dwell on their shortcomings, however. They host table-toppers Cambridge United on Easter Monday and now need a victory to put their top three ambitions back on course.