Steve Cotterill hails relegated Forest Green for playing with pride in comeback

Posted Sunday, April 21, 2024 by PA

Forest Green boss Steve Cotterill hailed his already-relegated side for playing with pride and passion as they beat Morecambe 2-1 in League Two at the Mazuma Stadium.

First-half goals from Charlie McCann and Kyle McAllister gave the visitors three three points as they came from behind after Charlie Brown’s 30th-minute opener, but Cotterill thought they should have won by a greater margin.

He said: “I thought we were well worth the win and that 2-1 flattered them to be honest. It could easily have been five or six today with the chances we missed.

“Some of our football was very good today and the fact we came from behind and showed the spirit we did was a real bonus.

“We have to remember this lot could have been near the play-offs if they hadn’t had some points deducted and lost some of the players they had earlier in the season so this was always going to be a tough game but we worked really, really hard and played really well and deserved that three points.

“I’ve told the lads that we have to play with professional pride and finish the season off as strongly as we can and we did that today.”

Morecambe struck the first blow after 30 minutes when Brown took advantage of Forest Green goalkeeper Vicente Reyes’ failure to control a back pass and was able to slide the ball over the line.

But Forest Green hit back with two quickfire goals. McAllister played in McCann with a smart through ball which the midfielder slotted past Archie Mair after 38 minutes to level the scores.

Six minutes later, the visitors were ahead as McAllister ran into the box and drilled a low shot past Mair’s left hand.

Morecambe went close to an equaliser when Gwion Edwards’s low shot was superbly saved by Reyes midway through the second half before Forest Green squandered two late chances on the break with Christian Doidge and McAllister both failing to find the target from great openings.

Speaking after the Shrimps’ eighth defeat from their last 10 games, Morecambe boss Ged Brannan did not hide his frustrations.

He said: “I’m very, very disappointed with our performance.

“They have already been relegated and we should have been right at them from the start, playing with desire and tempo. But there was none of that. We were just not at the races and nowhere near good enough.

“We can’t seem to get any sort of performance at home and I’m really disappointed for the fans because they have been brilliant.

“I told the lads that they have to have pride when they play football and put in performances week in week out and we are not doing that.

“We can’t seem to get a win, or even a performance at home and it is driving me mad.”