Semi not over yet, say captains

Both captains agree the League Two play-off semi-final between Cheltenham and Torquay is far from over, despite the Robins' 2-0 first-leg lead.

Goals from Jermaine McGlashan and Ben Burgess have put Cheltenham in the driving seat heading into Thursday evening's decisive second leg at Plainmoor. However, Robins skipper Alan Bennett insists there is still everything to play for at the halfway stage of the tie. He said: "It is only half-time at the moment but if you had asked if we would have taken that result beforehand - absolutely. "Nothing has been determined yet though and we need to prepare properly for Thursday. "I am pleased with the clean sheet. I have developed a good partnership with Steve Elliott at the back in that he is quite good in the air and I am able to sweep up behind and the fact that he is left-footed and I am right-footed. "If we can keep another clean sheet on Thursday then we will be through." Torquay suffered a significant setback when Rene Howe went off injured, the 14-goal top scorer for the Gulls left the action midway through the first half with a groin injury and looks likely to miss the second leg. Bennett added: "Losing Rene Howe was probably a boost for us because he is a good target man and it upset their pattern a bit. "But whoever they start with up front on Thursday will surely give us a good battle." Torquay captain Mark Ellis feels his side are still in contention for a place at Wembley despite their first-leg deficit. The defender believes the Gulls showed enough of an attacking threat at Whaddon Road to suggest they are capable of overturning the 2-0 scoreline on their own patch. "We created a lot of chances but unfortunately it didn't go in for us," said Ellis. "But we have another 90 minutes and if we can get an early goal at our place then we are right back in the tie. "We came to play some football and attack and we showed that by the number of chances we created throughout the game. "Their goalkeeper pulled off a number of good saves and we will have it all to do at home but we believe we can turn it around. "Thinking back, we won 2-0 at Exeter in a play-off and they then won 4-1 at ours so you just don't know."