Steve Cotterill ‘gutted’ by late Crewe leveller in draw with Cheltenham

Manager Steve Cotterill said his players can be proud of their performance despite conceding late on in their 1-1 home draw with Crewe.

The Robins led through Jake Bickerstaff’s strike early in the second half, but Crewe hit back though James Connolly’s header five minutes from time to avoid a third successive defeat and keep their play-off hopes very much alive.

“We were excellent,” Cotterill said. “We were definitely the better team and how we haven’t won that game, I don’t know.

“The difference is probably a couple of inches. We hit the post and it comes back to us, they hit the post at the death and it goes in the far corner, just.

“It’s not easy to go in and speak to the players when they play as well as that and they don’t win. I am gutted for them, absolutely gutted for them.

“They did everything and bearing in mind the run of games they’ve had, the energy, enthusiasm, the way we passed the ball.

“Crewe are wanting to get in the play-offs and we gave them a right good working over.”

Cheltenham were the better side in the first half but despite some dangerous balls into the box, they only tested Ian Lawlor once before the break.

A low effort from Luke Young was pushed away by the Alex goalkeeper in the eighth minute.

Max Sanders smashed a free-kick just wide for Crewe early in the second half before Bickerstaff’s breakthrough.

It came after a ball forward from Young and the ex-Wrexham forward showed neat footwork to make room for a shot, which he slammed past Lawlor.

Cheltenham nearly doubled their lead in the 69th minute when Jordan Thomas was denied by Lawlor’s parry and Isaac Hutchinson’s follow-up cannoned back off the left post.

But Crewe rescued a point five minutes from time when Connolly headed in Jack Powell’s corner from the left and only a fine stop from Joe Day denied Calum Agius a winner in time added on.

Crewe boss Lee Bell admitted his team’s play-off bid is likely to go all the way.

“Cheltenham are a very open, expansive team with very little pressure on them at the minute, in terms of where they are, so they have that freedom,” Bell said.

“That’s what we are trying to get into our players, but I thought the second half was a decent game of football.

“We showed resilience and character after a good month, followed by a poor week, so this is hopefully a little springboard for us to move forward.

“I hope we are involved in the play-off push all the way until the end and we’ll certainly be giving it a go.

“There is possibly only one place available, with us all having to play each other, so it’ll go all the way down to the wire.”