Mark Cooper thrilled following Forest Green’s comeback win over Cambridge

Posted Wednesday, October 03, 2018 by PA

Mark Cooper was upbeat about his Forest Green side’s battling qualities after they won at Cambridge.

Rovers came from behind to win 3-1 at the Abbey Stadium, sending Cambridge into the relegation zone for the first time this season after a fourth defeat in five home league games. Forest Green are up to fifth.

Jevani Brown had put the U’s ahead with a fine effort from outside the box before their evening unravelled, their misery compounded by Jake Carroll’s red card and Matt Worthington’s late third for Forest Green after Paul Digby and Dayle Grubb had already scored.

“Sometimes you have to grind the result out,” Cooper commented. “I thought Cambridge were very aggressive in their play, not in a bad way, and they showed that they were fighting.

“We made a lot of bad decisions tonight with the ball and we played into a lot of traps and found ourselves a goal down. The only question I had about my team was whether we could fight and scrap.

“I think we showed we could do that tonight. So to score three goals and pick up another three points, yes I’m pleased. I’m happy with the result.

“We’ll take fifth place and we’ll keep going – it’s a nice place to be. It’s a brilliant start for the football club, even though it could have been so much better but we’ll take it.”

Cambridge boss Joe Dunne was concerned by particular pieces of play going against his side and having a big impact on the result.

“Key moments are deciding games,” he said. “With us at the moment everything is going against us. I thought we played well up until the second goal. We’re always in it. We probably out-shot them and had big chances.

“The big turning point was probably the save the goalkeeper made. We bring David (Amoo) on to give us that impetus in attack. He did it, got his cross in and the goalkeeper makes a wonderful save and then 20 seconds later it’s in the back of our net.

“That’s unfortunately symptomatic of what’s been happening; a preventable goal, but most goals against us are preventable.

“We needed to get something from the game. We tried to get back into it, be a bit braver, and then obviously the sucker-punch was the third goal.

“We played well for long periods. We did well in the first half and up until the second goal we were well in it. We frustrated them at times and created a lot going forward but unfortunately it’s sucker-punches and disappointing goals that we’ve conceded.”