Cooper critical of Forest Green

Posted Sunday, December 01, 2019 by PA

Forest Green head coach Mark Cooper accused his side of not respecting the game and Carlisle enough as his below-par side were forced into an FA Cup replay.

It all started brightly enough for the League Two high-flyers – Aaron Collins nosing Rovers ahead in the first half before Nathan Thomas levelled things up before the break for the Cumbrians.

Thomas added a second on 76 minutes and though a Gethin Jones own goal two minutes later handed Rovers a replay, Cooper was still not happy.

He said: “If you’re not quite at it and drop your levels and don’t respect the game enough, you leave the result open.

“I felt we were sloppy and felt we disrespected the opposition and we got what we deserved, and we weren’t fully at it.

“(We were) tired from the other night, (it was a) heavy pitch and we got we deserved today and that’s a replay at Carlisle.

“We gifted them two goals and they gifted us two goals. JoJo (Wollacott) should have saved the first and the second one, Dom Bernard isn’t marking in the box.”

Rovers raced into an 11th-minute lead when Adam Collin’s error put the ball on a plate for Collins, though the Carlisle keeper partly redeemed himself with an unconvincing save from Liam Shephard’s fierce drive.

Thomas levelled with a powerful effort into the top corner and his second, from Hallam Hope’s sumptuous ball into the box, looked like being the winner – only for Jones’ own goal to quickly level matters once more.

Chris Beech, appointed head coach at Carlisle on Tuesday, was delighted to see his side get back into the tie.

He said: “I’ve got to be mindful that we were playing against Forest Green, who are one of the most possession-based teams in the league, they’ve been doing it for a good two years now and getting better at it, with better players doing it.

“I was pleased that the lads stuck at it especially in the first 25 minutes, because your resolve to keep pressing, keep digging in, in that fight you can start giving up and they didn’t. They stuck at the task and then started wearing Forest Green down, opportunities started arising for us and the two goals we scored were really, really good.

“I think the players represented the 200-plus fans that came to watch today. Carlisle people coming to watch us play is fantastic, coming all this way, coming to see the team representing the values of the Carlisle people, that’s really good.”