Cooper questions quiet fans after win

BOSS Mark Cooper has questioned whether Forest Green supporters want promotion after his side jumped into the League Two play-offs.

Joseph Mills’ deflected strike earned Rovers a narrow victory over struggling Crewe Alexandra.

Rovers are in rude health going into Christmas as they look to mount a promotion challenge, but Cooper is concerned with the lack of passion on the terraces.

“It took 88 minutes for me to hear one song from our fans,” said Cooper.

“We’re are a small football team competing with some really big football teams at the top of the league and we can’t even raise a song to give these boys backing, who are trying their absolute socks off,” added Cooper .

“We can’t do it on our own, Lincoln get 10,000 fans roaring them on, MK Dons 7,000 and Colchester 6,000.

“The club are in the play-offs now and we have a game in hand and we’re in a brilliant position, but we just need a bit of backing – the chairman backs the football club.”

Meanwhile, Crewe boss Dave Artell, who picked up a second-half booking, felt his side should have taken something from the game, but he pointed the finger at some of his squad.

He said: “It’s not good enough to accept defeat. Everyone’s got to do a bit more.

“There were some players that were being honest with themselves. There were some players that were still kidding themselves on and I had to tell them.

“The performance was good again, but it’s not the performance though is it that we keep talking about.

“It’s got to be better. If everyone was 5 better, we’ve got a great chance of winning the game. We’ve had enough chances today to win two games.”

The contest was settled by Mills’ strike on the cusp of the break, which cannoned off Crewe captain George Ray to beat Ben Garratt all ends up.

Rovers almost claimed a second in the 67th-minute second, as Reuben Reid struck a post from just inside the box, and substitute Dayle Grubb, with his first touch of the game, saw his follow up cleared off the line.

Farrend Rawson denied Crewe a point with three minutes to go, scampering back to clear off the line from Jordan Bowery.