MICHAEL Flynn admits he was 'over the moon' to see the back of Colchester United striker Samson Tovide after leading his Cheltenham Town side to a 2-1 win at the JobServe Community Stadium.
Tovide caused the Robins defence lots of problems in the opening 35 minutes of the League Two clash and supplied the assist for Lyle Taylor's goal, along with having two penalty appeals rejected.
However, the young striker was forced off with a hip injury and while wishing the striker well with his injury, Cheltenham boss Flynn conceded he was glad Tovide went off after the impact he had on the game, while on the pitch.
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Flynn said: “We knew they had quality – I know the players they’ve got and the Cowleys’ experience and they’ve got a good budget as well so we knew they could hurt us if we let them.
“I think (Samson) Tovide going off helped, I’ve got to be honest – I think he’s an outstanding prospect.
“He’s 20 years of age, he’s strong, he’s quick, he’s competitive so I was over the moon he went off – I hope he’s OK, in terms of his injury.
“We then changed the formation, started with a four and went to a 3-4-3."
Flynn was delighted with his Cheltenham side's display at Colchester, after they registered their first league away win of the campaign.
“I thought it was an excellent away performance," continued the former Newport County, Walsall and Swindon Town boss.
“We knew where we could expose them and that’s exactly what we worked on this week.
“I’ve just got to give the boys credit because they’ve actually executed what we’re telling them today almost to the letter of the law.
“Yes, there were a couple of scary moments in the end but that’s where players have come in and haven’t been in for a while.
"That communication level just needs to improve - if we'd done that when one of their strikers, either Hopper or Taylor, was dropping into midfield, one of the centre-backs had to go with him, because we had an overload in there.
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"We could deal with the crosses and if they didn't, they've got the overload in midfield which causes one of the wide men to go over and then they've got a 2v1 out wide.
"They're the things that we can improve on but in terms of their attitude and mentality, I was absolutely delighted.
"It's no more than that travelling support deserve, because I thought they got right behind the players - win, lose or draw, to stick together and that's exactly what I'm asking my players to do.
"I'm asking the fans to stick with us as well.
"Yes, it's frustrating, yes we want to be higher up but listen, it's a tough league and this is a new, inexperienced team.
"I think we played better at Salford and Grimsby and lost, so this was the best win of the season, so far."
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