BOSS Joe Roach praised his players for their adaptability after a switch in emphasis saw Cherries battle back for a share of the spoils against Cheltenham Town.

Roach had tinkered with his squad’s preparation in an attempt to deal with their opponents’ combative style of play and some tricky match conditions.

And Roach felt Cherries’ display had merited more than a draw, with Alex Parsons and Clive Makoni on target for the visitors at Cheltenham’s training ground.

“The wind and the slope on the pitch both played a part so it was a game of two halves,” said Roach. “We knew what we were in for so we changed the mentality of our training.

“We have tended to do very well in the first half but have found it difficult to implement a Plan B when teams have worked us out. But we tried to change that against Cheltenham and it worked.

“We should have won. I was really pleased with the lads for taking on board everything they had worked on in the week.”

Parsons opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time with an assured finish following good work by Marco Zocchi.

But after Sam Rawlings had levelled for the hosts, Kieran Thomas edged them ahead when Ryan Case diverted his cross past goalkeeper Ed Collins.

However, Cherries were rewarded for their endeavours when Clive Makoni maintain his rich vein of goalscoring form to level with a delightful chipped effort 12 minutes from time.

Cherries: Collins, Lindsey, Case, Maybury, Hester (Carmichael, 63), Bell, Vokes, Farren, Strong (Moth, 72), Parsons, Zocchi (Makoni, h-t).