Forest Green boss Cooper questions commitment of his own fans

Posted Sunday, December 23, 2018 by PA

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 in-form Forest Green a narrow 1-0 victory over struggling Crewe Alexandra.

Mills’ strike on the cusp of the break cannoned off Crewe captain George Ray to beat Ben Garratt all ends up.

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

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 for 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.

“We can’t do it on our own, Lincoln get ten thousand fans roaring them on, MK Dons seven thousand and Colchester six thousand.

“We get small crowds so we need a bit of help, people turn up and sit in their seats, and expect to be entertained, but the players need a bit of help.

“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.

“We have a group of good young players, but do the fans really want to get us promoted? I’m not sure because at the minute, I don’t hear it”

Meanwhile, Crewe boss 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.

“It’s not good enough to accept defeat,” Artell said. “Everyone’s got to do a bit more. There were a few home truths. 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. We were good at Exeter last week, the performance was good, but the result was c**p.

“The performance was good today but the result was c**p. Unlucky losers? No, losers. Don’t kid yourselves on because I’m not. 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.”