Cheltenham Town 0 Leicester City 2
15:44, 10 Jan 2026Updated 15:54, 10 Jan 2026
Your thoughts on this afternoon's game?
They tried their best, didn't they? Leicester just have those polished players so when it comes to the finer moments, they can get out of them, have answers to them. To be honest, apart from the two goals, which we are disappointed with and we would have been if we'd been playing in our own league, I am not disappointed with the effort, or the team commitment. I thought the plan was going okay, when you think about how the goals happened. The second was a killer just before half-time, so we could have done without that. I thought we had a go in the second half. We had a go in the first half, it just ended up being a different game. In the second half, we could go and press them, get after them a little bit, because we know there is only 45 minutes to play. We couldn't have gone and pressed them for 90 minutes. They'd have been too good, they'd have popped us and we could have lost the game by five or six. I didn't want that to happen, so we had to try and play our way into the game. You hope when you have those moments, because we had some good ones today, one of them needed to go in for us. Then it would have given us another spring in our step, a little bit more belief. Because they are a good team, with some players there we've played against today who were in the Premier League last year. They are a good team and when I saw their team I thought 'ouch' a little bit because I thought they'd be what they were. But in the second half, we were really good and the lads absolutely gave it everything.
If you'd have gone in at 1-0 down at half-time, it could have been very different
Yes, we are not really happy with the first goal. The second one takes a slight deflection just before it goes by Joe. Sometimes you come into games and while you want to win, they had a team that was good enough today that made the win a lot more difficult.
Jordan Thomas' chip, saved by Asmir Begovic, if that had gone in, it would have ignited everybody
We have had a couple of those moments and Jordan had one in the first half that flashed across the box and somebody got a block on it. It was a bit of a disappointment not to get one goal at least today. The lads deserved to score today and if we hadn't given away the two goals we gave away, you win the game 1-0. They gave it everything and I don't have any complaints with the guys. We have just come out of a really heavy Christmas period and all of a sudden you roll into an FA Cup game and it's been a really tough couple of three weeks really. The lads have been brilliant.
You lost Ethon Archer, Isaac Hutchinson and Hakeeb Adelakun before this one. How much of a difference could they have made?
We'll never know the answer to that because they are not here now. The boys gave everything today so they are the ones I'll be looking after and looking forward to working with next week.
A full ground too, so a word for the supporters.
Yes, brilliant. It really was fantastic. It's funny though because we've had two of the bigger crowds and not won in front of them, which would have been really nice to have given them that. They were great, behind the team all the way and at the end you could tell lots of people stayed behind in the ground, applauding the players. It's good at the moment, there is a feel-good factor around the football club, I feel.
Does that show the potential the club has going forward?
Yes, but don't forget this one is out of the ordinary. We don't want to turn around and say it was great to have nearly 7,000 in and then we only get 4,000 for our next home game. Don't forget those 4,000 have been watching us most of the time I've been here. They are our real die-hards and the others will come sometimes because we are playing Leicester, other times over Christmas because they've been at home for Christmas and other times because they might just be able to afford it over Christmas. Crowds can fluctuate, but a big thanks to everyone who has come to watch us over Christmas. A big thanks to everyone who came to watch us today and let's hope they are seeing a team that's putting everything in.
George Nurse coming in with 90 minutes on his debut
Yes, solid enough. You can see sometimes in the build how that left foot can help you. It opens the pitch up. He hasn't played a lot of football, so I did toy with the idea of putting him straight in against a team like Leicester. It's sink or swim, but George had a steady enough debut. He only met the lads a couple of days ago. He has only done one really good training session. George will be fine.
And Jake Bickerstaff as well, bringing him in on a permanent and again he worked hard
Yes, he didn't probably have the devilment in him that I want to have in him, today. He needs to work on that, or I need to work on that with him. He's 24 years of age. He has been part and parcel of what's happened since I've been here in terms of our better results. He's always been a good front to the team. While he didn't do as well today, Jake, you have to bear in mind who he is playing against and the level of player we are playing against. I wouldn't want to be too harsh on him, today.
Are you hopeful of adding more to your squad next week?
I don't know. Hopefully. There have been calls put in last week and by the start of the week we might have a few answers. Some teams have games this weekend, so hopefully we get a couple of positive answers. If we don't, we move on to somebody else.
Is it very much a game of patience during this window?
Not really because I am not a very patient person. I could say we will be patient, but I am not. I want everything done yesterday, but unfortunately it doesn't happen like that. So I suppose I'll have to be patient, won't I!
What are your aims for the rest of the season now it's only the league to focus on, finish as high as you can and continue the progress you've made?
Probably, I think so. There have been lots of changes. The Ethon Archer deal was done before I came to the club, so we knew that was going to happen. Hakeeb Adelakun, we knew that one was going to happen later on, so we knew that was only going to be a two-month. Isaac (Hutchinson), I wasn't surprised when that one happened. When you know things are happening, that's great. The big thing is when you are in the market, you are in there with a lot of other clubs. Sometimes you compete against finances, or the league table. We are in a better place now than we would have been if we'd been down at the bottom, but we are still not in an idealistic position where all of a sudden people are going to say, if you are one or five or six in the mix, you are my number one choice. The reality is, we probably won't be the number one choice. It has to be planned out, this window. What'll happen is, Tommy Taylor will have played his last game today. He'll be going back so after having seven loans, we are now down to one. You have to try and look at how a couple come in here and what positions come in, take a bit of a deep breath and find out where we are with the rest of the squad then. This month's window, really, is ridiculous. I don't know why they have it like this. What happens is, if you look at the first seven to 10 days, everybody is coming in, everybody is going back, all those little nuts and bolts that have been sorted in December that are very difficult, but if you have a lot of money you can get things over the line quite quickly. Then in the window for about two weeks, nothing happens. You end up from the 9th or 10th, to about the 21st or 22nd, everyone talks to everyone, everyone is then collating all their knowledge about where their players can go, the players are collating their knowledge about whether they want to go, the agents are then thinking about it. By the time you put all that in the mix, for 10 or 11 days, it's not a surprise that nothing happens, and everybody gets asked about it. Then all of a sudden, in the last week, there's a mad rush. It's ridiculous really. They should just open that window a little bit earlier for business and then close it. But when you have those games at the back end of January where you play Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, that's when everything is going to happen in the window. Why don't they put that midweek game back a week when nothing happens. I'll tell you why, because the people who sort out these silly rules don't have to work in the industry. They just make the rules, ridiculous.
Overall thoughts on Tommy Taylor's loan?
I had a great chat with Tommy. He needs to go back and play regular football. He understands it. He's a great lad. I've just mentioned it in the dressing room and the lads gave him a big clap and thanked him for what he's done because he's had 11 or 12 appearances here. That's quite good really. He's always thankful and I don't think he'll forget his time at Cheltenham. He had his first EFL game, his first goal, so we have played a small part in his development. I don't think he'll forget us and we certainly won't forget him. He's a great lad, I really really like him. For him, he needs to churn out 20 games somewhere.