EDWARDS NOT WORRYING YET
ROB Edwards insisted there will be “no panic” after his Forest Green Rovers suffered backto-back defeats for the first time this season with a loss at Crawley Town.
Having recently suffered their first league defeat in 20 games, Rovers’ undefeated away record fell after first-half goals from substitute Ashley Nadesan and Jordan Tunnicliffe.
Rovers pulled a late consolation goal back through Dominic Bernard and remain ten points clear at the top of the table.
Forest Green boss Edwards said: “We need to reset and not panic, we’re still in a very good position. Football always gives you a good opportunity to bounce b a c k with the number of games coming up.
“We didn’t really recover from the goals – it knocked the stuffing out of us.
“We have got to do better as a group, but our lads have put themselves in a fantastic position and must keep believing. We’ll stay strong and come out fighting.”
Rovers could have scored twice in the opening seven minutes, as Jordan Moore-Taylor had a close-range header saved before, Kane Wilson drove well wide from Marty Stevens’ ball.
But Nadesan, brought on as an early substitute, struck to give Crawley the lead after 24 minutes by slipping the ball past goalkeeper Luke McGee from Nick Tsaroulla’s through ball.
It got better for the Reds eight minutes later when defender Tunnicliffe headed his first goal of the season at the far post following a corner by Jack Powell.
After the start of the second half was delayed for ten minutes due to referee Christopher Pollard being forced off injured, Crawley midfielder Isaac Hutchinson had a deflected shot parried by shot-stopper McGee.
Rovers rarely sparked although substitute Jack Aitchison twice shot wide within the space of a minute.
Defender Bernard reduced the deficit after 80 minutes when the Reds half-cleared a free-kick by Nicky Cadden and Bernard fired home from close range.
Aitchison shot over and also forced keeper Glenn Morris to parry his low shot, and Daniel Sweeney had the ball in the net in stoppage time, but it was ruled out.
Despite missing out on a first home clean sheet in six months, Crawley boss John Yems was thrilled with the overall outcome.
He said: “We deserved it. It was heart-stopping in the last 20 minutes but we kept going. The harder you work, the luckier you become and it sums up what we are all about.
Yems had special praise for striker Nadesan, who put the Reds ahead nine minutes after replacing the injured Aramide Oteh.
He added: “That’s what he can do and it was a great response. Everybody wanted to win today.”
Morris 7, Ferry 8, Tunnicliffe 7, Craig 7, Lynch 7, Tsaroulla 7, Francomb 7 (Davies 86, 6), Payne 7, Powell 8, Hutchinson 7 (Nichols 69, 6), Oteh 6 (Nadesan 15, 8). Subs not used: Gallacher, Seymour, Marshall.
McGee 6, Godwin-Malife 6, Moore-Taylor 7, Bernard 7, Wilson 7, Stevenson 6 (Aitchison 59, 7), Hendry 6 (Sweeney 72, 7), Cadden 7, Adams 7, Matt 7, Stevens 6 (March 69, 6). Subs not used: Cargill, Diallo, Thomas, McAteer.