Darrell Clarke: Cheltenham boss says last three League One wins 'great achievement'

Cheltenham have beaten Port Vale, Blackpool and Cambridge in their last three games

Cheltenham manager Darrell Clarke said it's a "great achievement" for his side to have won their last three games in their fight for survival in League One.

The Robins twice came from behind to beat fellow strugglers Port Vale last weekend to move to within a point from safety.

Cheltenham lost their first 11 games of the campaign without scoring a goal.

The club, who were promoted in 2021, have never spent more than three consecutive seasons in the third tier.

"That's the first time since 2008 that the club has won three times on the spin in League One - that tells you that the club's not been in League One that often," Clarke told BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

"It's a little record to be proud of from the current squad, so [I am] really pleased with that but it's all done and dusted now."

Cheltenham next face Wigan away on Friday night but Clarke said the team were not thinking about league survival yet, despite having two games in hand on Charlton who are a place and point above them outside the bottom four.

"We've had a focus from day dot of what was required, I talked about it when I came in," he said.

"The concentration of the group has always been clear and try and win our next game and try and win the amount of games needed to stay in League One and create history.

"We're not moving away from that."

Training pitches 'not fit for purpose'

Despite results turning around, Cheltenham have spent a large part of the winter away from their regular base in Swindon Village due to their pitches not being playable.

"We've had a bit of a nightmare with the training facilities, they're not fit for purpose," Clarke said.

"We've got a real nice training base here but the pitches are nowhere near good enough and the last three or four months we've only been on grass two, three times at our actual training pitch."

Clarke, who was appointed in October, said he has been speaking to the club's board about the importance of using finances to improve the facilities in order to better compete with sides in the league around them.

"We know we're a bottom-half League Two budget in this league but we need better facilities," he said.

"The budget has got to be used in good areas, and not always on the playing squad, but improving the infrastructure that helps us to continue to improve as a football club."