Mark Cooper finds faults despite Forest Green’s late winner

Posted Sunday, August 25, 2019 by PA

Mark Cooper was not pleased with the performance of his players or the referee despite Forest Green’s 1-0 win over Bradford.

Joseph Mills scored in the third of 11 added minutes, during which Rovers defender Matt Mills was sent off.

Referee Andy Haines showed 10 other yellow cards in the game and he came in for criticism from Cooper.

“It should have been about football, but it was about the referee’s performance,” the Rovers manager said.

“He ruined the game for both teams. He lost control of the game which caused the animosity.”

Rovers bounced back from their first defeat of the season in midweek, but Cooper feels they had performed better in that loss.

Cooper said: “To come to a place like Bradford and get a result like this I have got to be pleased. It is a proper atmosphere, the crowd get behind the team, get on to the referee – it is an intimidating atmosphere.

“I was disappointed with the performance. We didn’t play as well as we did at Port Vale where we lost 2-1, but these things balance themselves out in the end.

“The changes we made worked. We looked well organised and we carried more of the threat.

“Dayle Grubb should have scored a hat-trick and we frustrated the crowd as well.

“I was delighted with the result, delighted with the application, delighted with the attitude of the team and our desire.

“I was not pleased with the performance, but I will take the three points.

“It was a great build-up for the goal, we had a lot of passes in that corner and we managed to work the cross that led to the goal.”

Bradford thought they had snatched a point with virtually the last kick of the match when Kelvin Mellor hammered the ball into the net but it was ruled offside.

Bantams boss Gary Bowyer said: “It is a near impossible job refereeing a game of football with everything that goes on nowadays, but it was the referee’s decision that cost us the goal. I need to see the build-up.

“We were attacking and then the linesman gave them a free-kick and it was from that passage of play that they scored.

“Then we thought we had scored at the end. I could not tell whether it was onside or offside, but the linesman didn’t flag straightaway and the referee gave the goal. We felt hard done by.

“We have lost one in five. Now it is a case of getting a reaction. We have got to be patient and make sure we concentrate. Unfortunately, we didn’t do that at the death.”