Mark Cooper full of praise for Forest Green as they move top

Mark Cooper described his Forest Green team’s performance as “magnificent” as they defeated Gloucestershire rivals Cheltenham 2-1 to move top of League Two.

The damage was done in the first half with goals from Jack Aitchison and Elliott Frear putting Rovers in command before Luke Varney pulled one back after the break.

But Forest Green had done enough to end Cheltenham’s 17-match unbeaten home run that stretched back to January.

“I thought the players were magnificent and the supporters were magnificent,” Cooper said.

“We keep talking about performances and when you play at a level like we did today, then you have a big chance of winning.

“It’s brilliant, great for the club, great for the fans and the players. We’ve been here a couple of times now.

“The key is trying to stay there, because everyone is shooting after you, but if we play like we did today, we should be all good.”

Michael Duff said he had no complaints about the result as his side’s eight-game undefeated league run came to an end at the hands of their neighbours.

“We were poor in most departments today and it didn’t look like our team,” said Duff, who signed a new deal at the club on Friday.

“We didn’t compete well enough, first or second contacts, 50/50 tackles and we didn’t use the ball well enough, so it’s not a great mix.

“We never really got going from the first couple of minutes.

“It took us too long to realise when we were getting joy and even then it was too slow.

“Forest Green have come away from home and set up camp the way they want to play, I’d imagine we had most of the ball, but we didn’t do a lot with it.

“They were the more threatening team than us, so I have no arguments with the result.”

Cheltenham have not beaten Forest Green in a competitive fixture since August 1998.

“They’ve gone top of the league and in the last few minutes there were a few scares, but we were right in the game until the minute and that’s with us not doing what we normally do,” Duff added.

“It’s disappointing when you have the off day against your local rivals in front of a pretty much full house, but it happens.

“We’ve not become a great team overnight and we haven’t become a bad one because we lost today.”