Manager Michael Flynn said Tom Bradbury was “going nowhere” after his goal secured a dramatic 1-0 home win for Cheltenham against Harrogate.
The left-sided defender was on the transfer list until last week and subject of interest from National League club Yeovil.
But an impressive midweek performance in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy saw him called up for his first League Two appearance of the season.
He rewarded his manager with a stoppage-time winner after Luke Young’s free-kick into the box, ending a run of three successive league defeats for the Robins.
Flynn said: “In pre-season, Tom was a little bit reluctant to some of the things I was asking of him but his attitude since then has been fantastic.
“I told him once he gets an opportunity he needs to take it and he did that extremely well on Tuesday night, which is why he got in the team today.
“All I can do is be open and honest with them and not make it personal. If that’s the way I deliver it, players might not like it but they’ll accept it and it’s down to them then.
“If they want to drop their standards and come off it, that’s up to them, but none of them have done that.
“So it’s pleasing and you never know when one door shuts, another opens and that’s football and life. I was pleased to get the win and the first clean sheet.
“Nobody is going anywhere now and I can’t bring anybody in, so I am not going to be getting rid of players now.
“That’s only going to be detrimental to what we are trying to do so we’ll revisit things in January and go from there.”
Harrogate were comfortably the better side in the first half, with home goalkeeper Owen Evans blocking well from James Daly after a mistake from Sam Stubbs in the sixth minute.
Sam Folarin headed wide in the 11th minute and Ellis Taylor’s shot was blocked in the box after a dangerous ball in from Dean Cornelius was not dealt with by the home defence.
Cheltenham improved after the break, with Harrison Sohna forcing James Belshaw into a diving save in the 53rd minute.
But a free-kick from Taylor crashed against the bar in the 76th minute with Evans beaten at the other end.
Debutant Lewis Shipley saw a firm drive beaten away by Belshaw three minutes from the end and Evans blocked from Daly before Bradbury had the final say.
Harrogate manager Simon Weaver felt his team should have capitalised on their first-half dominance.
“We probably played some of the best football we’ve played this season,” he said.
“We should have capitalised on it after some great deliveries and moves but we weren’t quite cutthroat enough to go in with the advantage.
“They were bound to have a go in the second half with good support behind them and they have some good players, so we expected a spell.
“It was anyone’s game but a lot more level and we succumbed to a late set piece after a soft free-kick was given against us. We didn’t handle a very good ball into the box.”
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