Nicky Cadden earns Mark Cooper praise as Forest Green edge Harrogate

Posted Sunday, December 06, 2020 by PA

Forest Green boss Mark Cooper hailed Scottish winger Nicky Cadden for exploiting tired Harrogate legs to inspire a 1-0 League Two win at Wetherby Road.

Cooper identified Cadden’s battle with home right-back Ryan Fallowfield, who was returning after a two-game injury absence, as the key contest in a tightly-fought encounter.

And – after the former Greenock Morton attacker had forced home goalkeeper James Belshaw into his first save of the match in the 54th minute – he went on to tee up Jamille Matt for his seventh league goal of the season just before the hour.

Cadden powered past Fallowfield before pulling the ball back for Matt to prod in from four yards.

Cooper said: “Harrogate had lost two games quite convincingly before this game, which is always dangerous because that will have hurt their pride.

“I knew they would make things difficult for us, which they did playing 4-5-1, so we were just trying to work out what their weakness was to get a goal and we just felt that their right-back, who is a really good player, was looking a bit tired because he hasn’t been playing recently.

“We managed to get Nicky Cadden one-on-one with him and it was a great cross for Jamma to win the game.

“They then threw everything they could at us, but we stopped a lot of the crosses and dealt with the others quite comfortably.”

Harrogate boss Simon Weaver agreed that Cadden’s contribution was the game’s defining point, although he was pleased with his team’s performance on an afternoon when supporters were welcomed back into Wetherby Road for the first time since March.

He said: “It was a tonic for the players and they got right behind the team. It was great to see them and it gave us a big lift and an adrenalin boost.

“I’m also a lot happier than I was on Tuesday night (following a 5-2 home defeat to Scunthorpe) and the game showed there are fine lines between success and losing at this level.

“They just had the moment of quality to set up the goal from Cadden and we have to learn from that, because it’s all about emergency defending from that point.

“We had our moments and could not quite get the ball over the line, but there was very little between the two teams and I was very proud of the performance because we looked solid, caused them problems and looked a decent League Two outfit.

“Forest Green are a few years further down the road than us in terms of how they have evolved their team.

“They were in the top half of the National League for several years before they got promoted and nearly got relegated in their first season.

“We don’t want that scenario and that shows it’s a big step, but our lads are getting stronger.”