Steve Cotterill hails ‘superb’ Wyll Stanway as Cheltenham beat Chesterfield
Charlie McCann and Andi Weimann were the scorers for the Robins.
Steve Cotterill hailed the performance of goalkeeper Wyll Stanway as Cheltenham continued their fine start with a 2-1 home win over Chesterfield.
First-half goals from Charlie McCann and Andi Weimann put the Robins in command, but Louie Marsh pulled one back for the Spireites, who applied heavy pressure for much of the 90 minutes.
A summer signing from Barrow, Stanway pulled off a string of fine saves to restrict them to a single goal and move Cheltenham level with leaders Barnet on 15 points.
“Wyll was absolutely superb today and he’s a real great lad as well so I’m delighted for him,” Cotterill said.
“When you change from a goalkeeper Cheltenham have seen for a few years and a really top professional in Joe Day, all of a sudden you go to a young man, it’s different.
“Today, he’s shown our supporters what he’s about, the reason I signed him and his potential going forward.
“We can play a lot better than we did today, but there are lots of things to be pleased about.
“I’m not jumping through hoops here, but when I’m at home tonight I’ll be quietly really pleased with that result against one of the best teams in the league.”
McCann opened the scoring with his seventh goal of the season in the 17th minute. Jordan Shipley’s ball forward was played into his path by Ryan Broom and he beat Ryan Boot with a shot into the bottom right corner.
Lee Bonis hit the woodwork for Chesterfield and Joel Randall’s shot was deflected on to the roof of the net before Cheltenham doubled their lead.
McCann found Jonathan Tomkinson, who nodded the ball down for Weimann and he thumped a shot into the net for his fourth goal in four games.
Stanway saved brilliantly from Bonis before half-time, but he could do nothing about Marsh’s 49th-minute strike after Randall’s effort was blocked following Remeao Hutton’s pass.
Spireites boss Paul Cook could not fault his team’s performance, despite them coming away empty-handed.
“That’s probably as good as I’ve seen a Chesterfield team play for a long time,” he said.
“We respect the result, of course we do, but if you keep playing like that, you won’t have many bad days. That’s for sure.
“We’ve had enough chances but it wasn’t our day. I enjoyed the game and when we got the first goal kicking towards our own fans, I thought it was only a matter of time before we equalised and possibly went on.
“Respect to Cheltenham, who’ve had a great start and Steve is doing a great job here. But they were second best all over the pitch today for sure.
“Football is about the result and unfortunately we didn’t get it.”