Tom Nichols put in a superb goalscoring display for Exeter City as they recorded their first win over Cheltenham Town.
The Grecians hadn't beaten their Gloucestershire rivals in their previous 10 attempts and had lost nine of those matches, but Nichols marked his return to the side with a goal midway through the half to give City the points.
Paul Tisdale made two changes to the side that lost to Stevenage on Saturday. He gave Clinton Morrison, currently playing on a non-contract basis for the Grecians, his first start as he tries to impress enough to earn a permanent deal in January.
Christian Ribeiro, who limped off injured against Stevenage, was only fit enough for a place on the bench. He was replaced at right-back by Scot Bennett, which forced Alex Nicholls into midfield and gave Tom Nichols his route back into the side as one of the two strikers up front.
A total of 4,951 fans made it through the turnstyles at St James's Park for the Boxing Day fixture, but they were not treated the best spectacle in the first half.
The match was not without its chances, but the best of these fell to the visitors in the opening 45 minutes. Matt Richards squandered one of Cheltenham's clearcut openings as he dragged a shot wide of goal from 12 yards out, with 35 minutes played, while Matt Oakley was in the right place to nod Troy Brown's goalbound header off the line moments before.
At the other end Liam Sercombe warmed the gloves of Trevor Carson, with a shot from the edge of the box and Matt Grimes sent a free-kick over the top of the crossbar inside the opening 25 minutes.
However, the best opportunity fell, unsurprisingly, to Tom Nichols as he raced into the opposition's area, shrugged off a couple of challenges and brought a good save out of Carson with a shot from eight yards out.
City started the second half on the front foot, with Harley curling an excellent shot just wide of the post in the 48th minute.
However, they were still not making their possession and territory count for much and, as the match approached the hour mark, you could sense manager Paul Tisdale was contemplating an attacking change from the bench.
That change duly came as David Wheeler, who had played well in the previous game at Stevenage, came on for Morrison.
A minute later and City were in front. In fairness, Wheeler's presence had little to do with the goal as man-of-the-match Nichols picked up the ball 25 yards from goal and hit a shot into the bottom left corner of Cheltenham's net.
Wheeler got into the action moments later though as he picked the ball up on the left, cut infield and fired a shot that Carson comfortably saved.
Nichols then almost put City 2-0 up on 71 minutes, but his expert chip, from the edge of the box, came back off the post.
Tisdale made another change with 18 minutes to go as he brought on Ribeiro on for Alex Nicholls. That allowed Bennett to sit in front of the back four as they looked to protect their 1-0 advantage.
However, Tom Nichols looked determined to put City two goals up and sent in another stinging drive, with 15 minutes to go, that Carson had to get two strong fists to in order to punch the ball away.
The final 10 minutes saw the game swing from end-to-end as Cheltenham flooded men forward in search of an equaliser and City tried to hit them on the counter.
However, one goal proved to be enough and City moved level on points with Plymouth Argyle as they kept the pressure on the teams just above them in the play-off places.
Exeter City: Hamon; Butterfield, Bennett, Oakley, Woodman; Grimes, Sercombe, Harley (Davies, 80); Nicholls (Ribeiro, 72), Morrison, Nichols. Subs not used: Pym, Moore-Taylor, Keohane, Cummins, Wheeler.
Cheltenham Town: Carson; Vaughan, Taylor (Deaman, 32), Brown, Braham-Barrett; Ferdinand, Hanks (Kotwica, 8), Richards, De Vita (Williams, 80); Sterling-James; Gornell. Subs not used: Gould, Williams, Bowen, Harrison, Haworth.
Booked: Barham-Barrett (43)
Attendance 4,591 (153 away)
![Exeter City 1 Cheltenham Town 0: Match report]( "Exeter City 1 Cheltenham Town 0: Match report")
