Cooper hails Doidge following brace in Forest Green victory over Grimsby

Mark Cooper lauded Christian Doidge’s impact as he marked his return from his collapsed move to Bolton with a first-half brace as Forest Green got their promotion aspirations back on track with a 3-0 win against Grimsby.

Doidge opened his account after 29 minutes as Liam Shephard stood up the perfect cross for the Welshman to plant his close-range header beyond former Forest Green goalkeeper Sam Russell.

And Doidge bagged his second on the cusp of the break – reacting quickly after Russell could only smother Joseph Mills’ stinging free-kick – as he netted his sixth goal of the season.

Cooper said: “Christian had a horrendous time at Bolton and you have to feel for him after getting his dream move into the Championship and then – through no fault of his own – it falls through.

“But since he returned, he has been first class – he’s a model pro and he deserved his goals tonight, so we’re delighted for him.

“He’s a bit disappointed that we didn’t carry that thrust on in the last 25 minutes to get him a hat-trick and that wasn’t from me or on the sidelines. The players went into ‘defend what we have mode’, but I wanted us to keep going and I’m always striving for more.”

After bossing the first period, Rovers had strong claims for a penalty just two minutes after the resumption.

Gavin Gunning’s sumptuous pass saw Grimsby’s Ludvig Ohman chop Doidge down on the corner of the box with Rovers baying for a penalty.

However, Cooper’s side felt vindicated when the subsequent 50th-minute free-kick flew in as former Birmingham midfielder Reece Brown picked his spot from the corner of the box for his fifth goal of the season.

Meanwhile, Grimsby boss Michael Jolley insisted the free-kick that led to Doidge’s goal should not have stood.

He said: “We can’t have any complaints about the result. It was a performance that was under-par from us.

“When you come away to a side in the top six, you need to play well and you need things to go in your favour.

“We didn’t play well enough, but I’m really, really upset and disappointed with Forest Green’s second goal because Ludvig has clearly won the ball on the edge of the box.

“You could see that from the direction the ball then travels. If anything, I thought it was a foul to us, and the referee makes a huge mistake.

“Instead of going in 1-0 and being able to really plan an assault in the second half, at 2-0 the game then becomes very difficult.

“We’re bitterly frustrated about that, but I also don’t want to hide behind the fact we didn’t play well enough to get anything from the game.”