WISH IS GRANTED
Forest Green’s Dan Wishart on what life is like when you step up...
DAN Wishart has what it takes to be a key cog in Forest Green Rovers’ League Two survival bid – it’s all just a matter of belief.
Just ask his manager Mark Cooper, who castigated the 25year-old at half-time of their 3-1 win over Stevenage this month and promptly saw the attacking full-back burst forward and produce a wonderful cross for Farrend Rawson to head home.
Like his team, this is Wishart’s debut campaign in the EFL and, while it may have taken some time to adapt following a career spent in Non-League, the former England C international, a regular at left wing-back for Cooper’s side, believes the penny has well and truly dropped.
Assume
“At the start, I felt it was a lot to do, but for a while I’ve found it just as easy as playing in the league below – maybe because I’m getting more confident and used to things,” he said.
“I didn’t know what to expect, so you assume everyone’s going to be miles ahead of you.
“Really and truly, everyone’s the same. You all have two feet and you all run around the pitch.
“In League Two, everybody’s got a game plan and they stick to their game plan. In the league below, you just go out and play, basically.
“Our manager has managed in the League, so he’s always watched the team we’re going to play against and we have a strategy for how we’re going to play against them.
“Once I got that self-belief and thought, ‘I can be just as good or better than the players I’m playing against’, that’s when my season changed.”
Forest Green entered the division playing free-flowing football. Despite scoring plenty of goals themselves, they conceded them by the bucket load.
However, it appears that Rovers, who were bolstered by no fewer than ten January arrivals, may just have discovered their gritty side.
Having been in the bottom two for so long, they sat six points clear of the drop zone before the weekend, having won two of their last three.
Wishart, who joined the club from Sutton United in October 2016 and then played his part in Rovers’ National League play-off triumph last term, is certain his team have more than enough about them to ensure their League Two adventure rumbles on past May.
“We know it’s going to be tight but we all believe we can do it,” he said. “There’s no-one in the camp who thinks we’re going down. That’s never been the mindset.
Improve
“We’ve always believed we have more than enough to stay up.
“I think I’m having a good season. I’m doing the right things individually and, as a club we’re doing that, too. I believe we’ll improve our league position.”
Having begun his career at Hayes & Yeading, Wishart garnered plenty of admirers during his Non-League days, but he’s thankful his professional dream came true with Forest Green.
He’s desperate to keep the side in League Two and reckons that will come to pass, as long as he and his colleagues believe.
“I’ve always wanted to be a professional player. I felt I’d done my time in the lower leagues and I owe my experience to playing at a lower level,” said Wishart. “I’m not willing to go back there. Now, I’m fighting to make sure we stay in this league.”