Forest Green boss Mark Cooper talks up hat-trick hero George Williams - 7M sport

Forest Green boss Mark Cooper talks up hat-trick hero George Williams



Posted Thursday, December 27, 2018 by PA

Forest Green boss Mark Cooper talks up hat-trick hero George Williams

Forest Green manager Mark Cooper hailed his hat-trick hero George Williams after he sealed a 4-1 victory at 10-man Newport.

The Wales international scored the first of two stunning free-kicks inside three minutes after Matty Dolan had shoved Reece Brown.

Cooper’s men doubled their lead two minutes before the break when Brown sent Tahvon Campbell through, and the forward jinked his way past David Pipe and Mickey Demetriou before finding the net.

Newport clawed one back in stoppage time thanks to Padraig Amond, who got up after being clattered by Rovers goalkeeper James Montgomery to score from the penalty spot.

But Williams raced through in the second half to get Dan Butler sent off before firing a 35-yard free-kick into the top corner.

And he completed the job with a curling shot after 58 minutes.

“You don’t get in the Welsh squad for the Euros without having ability, I’m convinced it’s a confidence thing,” said Cooper.

“He scored three wonderful goals today, you would expect he will get confidence now and thrive on it. He’s got the Ronaldo free-kick in the bag and he practices it a lot.

“The result pleased me but the performance was the main thing, we played some fantastic football.

“We played professionally, kept the ball and played well until the 90th minute. If we keep playing and getting results the supporters will continue to stay with us.

“The table is very tight up there and we’re only a few points off the automatic-promotion places. It’s a fantastic achievement to have 39 points after 23 games.

“We played professionally, kept the ball and played well until the 90th minute. If we keep playing and getting results the supporters will continue to stay with us.”

It was a difficult afternoon for Newport manager Mike Flynn, who said his current squad could be shaken up in the transfer market.

“It was really, really amateurish from start to finish,” he said.

“We changed some of the match-day preparations and warm-up because we haven’t been starting right and it didn’t matter what we did, we started poorly again.

“We’re not ruthless enough in both boxes; that’s why we’ve conceded 41 goals in 23 games and why we haven’t scored 50 already.

“It’s frustrating but we’ve just got to get through the next few days and try to get some fresh blood in.

“It’s simple things like blocking their runner from the kick-off and not giving away any cheap free-kicks because we know Williams has got very good quality.

“They kept the ball, they moved it well and I’m quite glad they didn’t go for the jugular. I think they only had two more attempts on target after it went 4-1.

“A few other teams would have gone for it and it might have been seven or eight.”

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