Plymouth Argyle 2 Cheltenham Town 0
Dismal Cheltenham Town suffered more away day misery this afternoon as their top three hopes suffered another blow at Plymouth Argyle.
Boss Mark Yates kept faith with the same side that battled to beat promotion rivals Northampton Town 1-0 on Easter Monday, but on this occasion it did not function.
Cheltenham made a positive enough start, enjoying the greater possession, but the loss of striker Paul Benson to an ankle injured in the 25th minute seemed to knock them back.
Benson was replaced by Shaun Harrad, but Plymouth grew into the game and began to open Cheltenham up with their front players causing major problems.
Joe Bryan and Andres Gurrieri were both prominent, supplying front man Reuben Reid, who was supported by Jason Banton.
Gurrieri fed Banton in the 27th minute and the chance went begging, but the warning signs were there.
Steve Elliott managed to deflect a Gurrieri shot wide after half an hour, but Plymouth opened the scoring in the 40th minute.
Bryan ran at the Robins defence and unleashed a shot that cannoned back off the right post straight to Reid, who stabbed past Scott Brown from close range.
Jermaine McGlashan saw an effort saved by Jake Cole in first half stoppage time, but Argyle deserved their half-time advantage and there was no improvement from Cheltenham after the break.
Things worsened in the 54th minute when a strong run and cross from full-back Onismor Bhasera hit the chest of Michael Hector and flew into the net, giving Scott Brown no chance.
Brown was called upon to make several smart saves as Cheltenham went down with a whimper, rarely looking like pulling a goal back.
He denied Reid, who raced through one-on-one before Harrad set up fellow substitute Kaid Mohamed, whose effort was comfortably gathered by Jake Cole.
Brown also saved from Bryan before Reid hit the outside of the left post with ten minutes remaining and another one-on-one from Bryan was dealt with by Brown, who was once again the Robins' overworked top performer.
Plymouth Argyle: J Cole; M Blanchard, P Wotton (A Charles 76), G Branston, O Bhasera; J Bryan, C Nelson, L Young, A Gurrieri; J Banton (R Murray 90); R Reid (P Cowan-Hall 90). Subs not used: D Berry, N Chadwick, R Gilmartin, R Murray, T Harvey.
Cheltenham Town: S Brown; K Lowe, M Hector, S Elliott, S Jombati; J McGlashan, M Pack, D Carter (R Penn 60), S Deering (K Mohamed 54); B Harrison, P Benson (S Harrad 25). Subs not used: B Jones, D Duffy, C Roberts, J Taylor.
Referee: Carl Berry
Attendance: 7,941 (316 away)
Star Man: Scott Brown
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