Mark Cooper lauds Forest Green after impressive away win at Exeter

Forest Green boss Mark Cooper described his side’s performance as “outstanding” as they became only the second team to win at third-placed Exeter this season.

Two brilliant goals by Reece Brown and Liam Shephard did the damage and, although Aaron Martin pulled a goal back in stoppage time, Rovers held on for a 2-1 win to move sixth in League Two.

“It was outstanding,” Cooper said.

“The bits we weren’t great at on Tuesday we worked really hard at on the training ground on Thursday and Friday. We looked really good today, disciplined and solid and we looked like we had a real threat today.

“We were dominating the game with and without the ball and I didn’t really need to change it.

“The start of the game we were a bit sloppy with the ball, we had good dominance, territory and possession and we were turning the ball over a bit too cheaply as though it was too easy for us.

“You can’t do that because at some point we will turn it over and they will hurt you because these are a good team.

“We said to them at half-time ‘let’s tidy up with the ball and we will get the goal’ and it was a fantastic goal from Reece with his left foot.

“We have a way of playing that if we get it right we are difficult to play against. The players deserve a lot of credit since they came back pre-season.

“Along the way we will have some bumps but as long as we keep working hard and try and play like we did today we will be alright.”

Exeter manager Matt Taylor had no qualms with the result and admitted the better team won.

“It’s not the result we wanted today and we are disappointed with our performance,” he said.

“It might have been a game too much for some of our players, but we can’t make excuses on the back of a tough week.

“We have had a tough schedule in recent weeks and illness and injury in the camp, but we weren’t quite at it today and we were a yard short all over the pitch.

“We weren’t able to get a foothold in the game in terms of control whatsoever and certainly in possession, I thought we were really poor today.

“I have not been able to say that too many times this season, but we didn’t use the ball well at all, we had no pace in our legs and no quality in terms of our delivery forward.

“It’s disappointing, it really is, especially with the new stand opening. It was a big day for everyone at the club, but we haven’t got too high when we win and we won’t get too low off the back of that.”