Forest Green dedicate win to injured striker Matty Stevens
Posted Wednesday, April 06, 2022 by PA
Rob Edwards revealed Forest Green FaceTimed injured striker Matty Stevens after his side made a giant stride towards promotion.
Josh March’s strike tightened Forest Green’s grip on automatic promotion against a Mansfield side reduced to 10 men after George Lapslie’s second-half red card.
March pounced on 15 minutes with a clinical finish, with his team-mates holding up Stevens’ number nine shirt in celebration as Rovers made it three wins on the spin and a gap of 12 points on fourth-placed Northampton with seven games to go.
Top scorer Stevens was ruled out for the season after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament against Scunthorpe United on Saturday and Edwards urged his side to win the title for the stricken striker.
“The players FaceTimed Matty after the game and we want to do it for him and make sure he’s playing League One football next season,” he said.
Edwards felt Mansfield made a bright start to the game and were more of a threat when reduced to 10 men after the break.
He added: “Mansfield were one of the teams that can catch us and that was one of our best performances of the season. They started really well in the initial 10 minutes but we settled, but the game was more in the balance when they went down to 10.”
Edwards heaped praise on striker March who came in for Stevens, adding: “I’m extremely proud of Josh March and he deserves the credit and plaudits tonight. Any youngster should take a leaf out of his book, the way he trains, he’s someone to look up to.
“Tonight, put a bit of daylight between us and the chasing pack, but we have a huge seven games to go and I’ve told the boys I want three wins in a week.”
Stephen Quinn and Lucas Akins went close for Mansfield early on but March pounced after Jamille Matt’s header was parried.
March went close again but Mansfield boss Nigel Clough was seething after seeing midfielder Lapslie red-carded for a rash challenge on opposite number Ebou Adams.
He said: “There was no contact whatsoever. The player jumped in the air and the referee was only a few yards away and got it wrong.
“The lad got up, played the rest of the game and could’ve had several more bookings himself.
“I thought we were very, very good tonight. Right until the end we were pressing.
“We can take a lot of heart from the game. I think we’ll be alright for the last seven games after what I saw tonight.
“They are the best team in the league, but I thought they were very wary of us.”
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