SAM KEEPS ROVERS IN THE MIX AS IRON SLIP

FOREST GREEN boss Mark Cooper hailed goalkeeper Sam Russell, who saved a second-half penalty in the narrow victory against Braintree at the Ironmongery Direct Stadium.

The Rovers shot-stopper produced a number of fine saves, including the spot-kick, to keep the away side in front after Keanu Marsh-Brown put them ahead on 38 minutes.

After dominating the opening 45 minutes, Cooper was left with a mixture of relief and frustration at his team’s lack of finishing.

“First-half, there was only one team in it and we should have put the game to bed,” said the former Swindon Town manager.

“We had chances to make it three, four, possibly five-nil and didn’t which left it open for Braintree to come and have a go at us.

“They really did in the second-half, all credit to them, which puts us in debt to our goal keeper for saving a penalty, because we were awful after the break and we need to be better than that.”

The home side gave the ball away right from the kick-off and from there they began a torrid 45 minutes of chasing shadows. Former Notts County midfielder Liam Noble largely dictated the play from deep, but without much movement from the forward lines his passing was left unappreciated.

Without any real clearcut chances being made, there was a big surprise that a goal came at all. Braintree’s deepest midfielder Sam Corne showed Marsh-Brown inside and the Rovers striker scuffed a shot from 25 yards, which bobbled inside the near post, much to the shock of the crowd and debutant keeper Will Puddy. Despite passing triangles round the Iron, Forest Green hadn’t done enough to put the game to bed and left an opportunity for Jamie Day’s men to get something from the second-half. “We had a plan for the second-half that we were going to go after them,” said the Braintree boss, “because we had the wind and we knew we could pin them in.” To Day’s credit, the plan did pin the away side in and disrupt their passing. Before long, the pace and quick feet of Simeon Akinola had Rovers leftback Ben Jefford in a tangle and after sliding in Iron midfielder Chez Isaac, the former Welling United defender brought down the Braintree captain inside the box. On another day Isaac might have struck a better penalty, but his effort against Russell was weak and condemned Day’s men to a second 1-0 defeat in as many matches. “Chez was captain today and he leads by example. Nine times out of ten you’d back him to score from the spot,” added Day. “But he didn’t, and he got a booking straight after with the frustration of it.”