Boro fell to defeat at The Lamex Stadium this evening, losing 1-0 against second placed Cheltenham Town with George Lloyd's first-half goal settling the contest...
Alex Revell named three changes to that team that fell to defeat against Mansfield Town on Saturday, with Ben Coker, Remeao Hutton and Jack Smith coming into the starting eleven. Elliot Osborne and Jack Aitchison dropped to the bench, while Luther James-Wildin missed out through injury.
The visitors started brightly, moving the ball around with pace and causing Boro problems as Matty Blair found space inside the box, but couldn't pick out a Cheltenham man in the middle.
The first half was relatively cagey, as both teams struggled to find a way to dictate the tempo, but Boro were able to deal with the long throw of Ben Tozer which was the visitor's biggest threat.
Elliott List had a great chance to open the scoring on 28 minutes, as Jack Smith threaded an excellent pass into the path of List, who rounded Josh Griffiths in the Cheltenham goal, but took the ball too wide and failed to hit the target.
Jamie Cumming produced a superb stop on 30 minute to deny Sam Smith, acrobatically tipping the ball over the bar after neat build-up play from the visitors.
Jack Smith was the architect once more, as the youngster played Luke Norris through on goal, but the striker's effort was comfortably caught by the alert Griffiths.
The visitors troubled the Boro defence on 38 minutes, as a long ball forward fell to Finn Azaz, but the midfielder's shot was blocked in the nick of time by Luke Prosser, with Tom Pett clearing the rebound.
George Lloyd put the hosts in front during the final minutes of the first half, controlling a long ball before cutting inside past Terence Vancooten and scoring for his third League Two goal of the season.
The second-half commenced and substitute Jack Aitchison almost made the perfect introduction, controlling a long ball before striking powerfully from close range, with the ball ricocheting off a Cheltenham defender and away for a corner.
Tom Pett had a long-range effort on 63 minutes, whistling past Griffiths' right post, as Cheltenham looked to frustrate Boro by sitting deep and restricting Boro to long range efforts.
Boro were pressing for an equaliser as penalty appeals were waved away by referee Trevor Kettle, after Vancooten seemed to be pushed in the back by the opposition from a corner with Kettle uninterested.
Boro pushed hard, but it would be Cheltenham that left the Lamex Stadium with all three points, strengthening their promotion hopes as the Robins aim for a return to League One after a 12-year absence.