Forest Green’s first away win in over a year is ‘massive’ – boss David Horseman

Forest Green boss David Horseman admitted the club’s first League Two away win for more than a year represented a “massive day” for the club.

A second-half Matt Stevens goal – his first since February – sealed a 1-0 triumph at Harrogate for the club that last won on the road on the opening day of last season at Bristol Rovers.

Forest Green ended that campaign comprehensively relegated from League One so new chief Horseman believes victory in North Yorkshire could prove a pivotal moment for the Gloucestershire outfit, who had lost their opening two fixtures to Salford and Portsmouth – the latter in the Carabao Cup.

The former Southampton B coach said: “It was a massive day for the club as a whole.

“When you’ve gone so long without an away win, it’s so important to get one any way you can and, while you want to play well and be convincing, in some ways hanging on at the end makes it feel even better.

“It’s a win that will bring the dressing room and new staff together and an important one for us going forward. Ironically, it was the worst we’ve played since I’ve been here, including in pre-season.

“We put in decent performances against Salford and Portsmouth without getting anything from them and I wasn’t best pleased at half-time in this game, so I had to raise my voice.

“But the boys responded by scoring really early and I think they are a group that we can be proud of now as a club.”

Stevens grabbed 27 goals as Rovers won promotion from League Two in 2021/22, but only netted once last term and spent the second half of the season at Walsall.

His new boss remains in no doubt about his goalscoring threat, though, adding: “When you get him in the box, he scores all types of goals and we know, if we get the ball to him in those good areas, that’s what he’ll do.

“We took our one chance and then defended our box really well for the rest of the game.”

Home boss Simon Weaver felt that the result hinged on one defensive lapse from his side.

He said: “It was a really tight game and after quite a flat start, we had to deal with a number of situations really well to ensure it was 0-0 at half-time.

“They then scored out of the blue, which was a bit of a shock to the system, but that can happen in games like this.

“It was one defensive slip and a bit of individual skill from their player (Tyrese Omotoye) to put in a cross that cost us a point at least.

“The players gave it their all for the rest of the game but I got that feeling during the last five minutes that it wasn’t going to be our day because we were lacking that killer end product in the final third.

“We were so high after winning our first two games and now it feels like rock bottom after a defeat but there’s a long way to go and we just have to go again at Tranmere on Tuesday now.”