Following his team’s 2-1 victory over Morecambe, Forest Green Rovers manager Steve Cotterill stated, “I think the reaction was at the beginning of the game even though we had gone 1-0 down.”
Thirty minutes into the Rovers’ season-ending road game, the hosts took the lead thanks to a goal from Charlie Brown.
Within nine minutes, Rovers had equalised when Charlie McCann found himself with a through pass from Kyle McAllister, and his effort struck the left corner of the goal.
Five minutes later, Christian Doidge and McAllister’s effort beat Archie Mair in the Morecambe goal to give Forest Green a 2-1 lead.
The second half continued to go end-to-end, with McAllister having the finest opportunity of the half when, with the final kick of the match, he won the ball from Morecambe goalkeeper Archie Mair, but his shot struck the crossbar.
Cotterill was extremely clear following the Rovers’ first victory in four games: “If you think about it, I think that really we should have probably been 3-0 up before they scored the first goal.”
“To be fair, they made some excellent blocks to thwart those opportunities, so they deserve praise for their defensive play, and they went on to win 1-0.
“They went up 1-0 against the flow of play, but I felt like we played well tonight and the win was well worth it. We wasted a few opportunities in the second half, so even in the end, if you consider that it was only 2-1, we could have easily won by five or six goals today. I felt that 2-1 had flattered them (Morecambe).
Following their 6-0 loss at Wrexham last Saturday, the Rovers manager was in dire need of a response from the team.
“I think the reaction was at the beginning of the game even though we had gone 1-0 down, I thought that sort of just summed up where it has been a little bit,” Cotterill stated in reference to the successful comeback today the guys came here today and I thought they played very well.
“You have to watch what you say before some games because their manager said before the game that we might be pouting.”
Vicente Reyes committed a mistake that let Morecambe score, but he more than made up for it with the way he played the rest of the way.
“He made a great save there at the end when it was at 2-1, but really that error was his error, but we had worked on something this week that really that should not have been his error,” the Rovers manager said of the young goalie.
“That’s all I have to say about it; by the time it reached Vinny, he ought to have had an other alternative, but we had already worked on something like that in this week.
“In actuality, not just Vinny was probably involved in that error, even if it was his.
“Unfortunately, as the custodian, you have no opportunity to correct your mistakes once they land in the back of the net.
“I felt bad for him, but in the second half, I thought he showed great strength and character and handled a few crosses under pressure.”
Dom Bernard took Richard Keogh’s place soon before the 70th minute due to what appeared to be an injury.
Regarding the center-back, Cotterill stated: “He’s been dealing with a minor knee issue for a few weeks now.
“He got hit pretty hard the other week, so we just need to make sure he’s okay,” the statement reads. There was a need to make those final substitutions.
Next Saturday is Rovers’ last game of the season, and they will play Notts County, who just defeated Colchester United 1-0.
“There is nothing more we can do about it other than play with professional pride, work hard, and be honest,” the Rovers manager stated in reference to the game the next weekend.
“We have ninety minutes to wrap up the season as best we can; we know that next week’s matchup against a strong team will be challenging
football team in Notts County.
“We will be into that and we will prepare for that after another long journey home.”
