Cheltenham has gone nine league games without scoring, and Saturday’s 2-0 loss to Lincoln extended that drought to 146 days. The bad news is that Lincoln’s key player will miss four games because of an injury.

Lincoln’s 1-0 win over Cheletnham on Saturday moved the Robins towards an unwanted record

They are now goalless in their past nine games, one off the all-time record in English league football

It just doesn’t look like we’re going to score a goal. We hit the crossbar last week. It’s been difficult to watch at times… but I still come to the games.’

His travel companion Mark Hands, who has supported the club since 1976, adds: ‘You’ve got to support your side, haven’t you? The thing is, this goal drought is not going to go on for ever, so you do have that kind of hope.

When I got my ticket for today, my wife said to me, “What have you bought that for?” I replied, “Optimism”. “What do you mean?” she said. I replied, “I want to be there when we score”.’

Cheltenham supporters knew they were in for a tough season after a summer of change on and off the field. Star striker Alfie May, who recorded 23 and 20 league goals in his last two seasons at the club, was the last Robins player to hit the net back in May — before moving on to Charlton.

The club also lost three key members of backroom staff, including director of football Micky Moore to fellow League One side Shrewsbury.

‘It’s confidence. They’re not a team wildly worse than everybody else. We’re not horrendous,’ says McIlquham.

‘Don’t expect too much this afternoon,’ warns Hands, who has already used pint glasses as defenders to help illustrate the team’s tactical flaws this season.

Manager Wade Elliott was given the boot on September 21, with former Port Vale boss Darrell Clark announced as his successor on Friday. He will be under no illusions about the difficulty of the job after watching his new team’s performance from the stands at Sincil Bank on Saturday. A first-half brace from Lincoln’s Danish defender Lars Sorensen sealed a 2-0 win.

In truth, the visitors looked no more likely to end their drought than they have all campaign and the 118 fans who made the trip returned home empty-handed once again.

There had been optimism in the away end before kick-off. One supporter vigorously waved his arms at the players as they warmed up in an attempt to get them firing. Those arms were quickly crossed as another painful afternoon wore on.

Draw a blank in tomorrow’s game against Fleetwood and Cheltenham will equal the record for the most games without a goal in English league history.

‘We’re still good enough to be in this division,’ says Hands, with a thump of a fist on the table.

‘If you put a ship in the sea with no rudder on it, where’s it going to go? Nowhere. If you put one on it, you see where it goes. Clark is our rudder.’

For the supporters’ sake, you have to hope so. Otherwise, the good ship Cheltenham will be sinking faster than the Titanic.