Exuberant Forest Green manager Robbie Savage showed raw emotion after his team’s thrilling 2-1 victory over promotion rivals Scunthorpe at the New Lawn.
Goals from West Brom loanee Harry Whitwell and Kyle McAllister in the final 12 minutes overturned Scunthorpe’s lead from Slavi Spasov’s 68th-minute strike.
Savage’s unbridled celebrations at the final whistle triggered Southend defender Gus Scott-Morriss, who was restrained by Rovers’ Harvey Bunker and goalscorer Whitwell, leading to a scuffle involving several players at the centre circle.
On his post-match emotions, Savage said:
“I thought their fans sang in good spirit. There’s a difference — you could see it today. They were good, really good. Five hundred away fans chanting ‘Savage, Savage — what’s the score?’ when they’re one-nil up.
Make sure that when you sing, you win the game. Because if you lose, I’ll show emotion — but in the right spirit.”
“The referee handled the game well. I’ve played in front of 80,000 people many times, so I know there’s always emotion after a match. But that reaction was about what last season meant to me. When they were chanting ‘Savage, Savage, what’s the score?’ it was just to let them know it finished 2–1.”
Savage insisted the victory was for the Rovers’ fans, who suffered play-off penalty heartache against Southend last season, he said: “After they won last year, that was a massive moment, and our fans went away really happy—it’s for them.”
Whitwell was the pick of the bunch- his surging runs catching the eye and topped off with a goal – pleasing Savage, who has worked the loan market with precision alongside sporting director Mark Bowen: “It’s credit to Mark, the loan system we’ve got. And we’re a great model for any club wanting to send their young players here, the way they develop, the way they’re getting better, the way they’re playing senior football, the way they’re embracing it. Harry will probably want to stay with us because he wants to see us get up and he’s magnificent. As has Jili Buyabu been, as all our loan players.”
Listen to Robbie Savage’s full match press conference, where’s he’s joined by chairman Dale Vince. The Forest Green boss gives his game synopsis, including the reason behind his decision to name Laurent Mendy as captain, fighting it out for promotion and much more.
Gaffer tapes with Robbie Savage
A high-octane opening saw Southend boss the early possession, but it was Rovers who mustered the first shot of the match in anger – Nick Haughton drove into the box and induced a diving response from Nick Hayes on 16 minutes.
Rovers’ tails were wagging – Haughton letting fly from 25 yards to see Hayes claw the ball away. Nine minutes before the break Hayes did well to beat away Jili Buyabu’s skidder from outside the box and even better to fist clear Jayden Clarke’s teasing corner from under his bar. Rovers kept knocking. Kyle McAllister’s 39th minute free-kick found the head of Temi Babaloa who thundered the top of the bar. Tom Knowles stung the gloves of Hayes as Savage’s side continued their shoot on sight policy.
From the get-go Andrew Dallas scuffed his strike in the box as Southend started the second half brightly. Dallas induced a diving response from Harry Isted on 49 minutes – Southend’s first shot on target. It was the Shrimpers who clawed themselves ahead. Scott-Morriss arrowed a ball into the box for Bulgarian Spasov to touch in.
Whitwell netted parity with 12 minutes to go -finishing with aplomb from inside the box. Two minutes later McAllister pulled the trigger from 35 yards to lift the roof of the New Lawn.
Southend boss Kevin Maher cut a frustrated figure after his side lost the game from a winning position : “We’re disappointed, we started the first-half ever so well and were on top and got to the final third loads to be a bit more patient. I tweaked it in the second half and I thought we were the better team.”
Forest Green Rovers 2 (Whitwell 78, McAllister 80)
Southend United 1 (Spasov 68 )
Team line-ups
Forest Green: ( 4-1-4-1) Isted 7; Knowles 7, Mendy 7, Kanu 7, Buyabu 7 (Moore-Taylor 86); Bunker 7; McAllister 8, Whitwell 9, Haughton 8 (Moore 81), Clarke 6 (Dausch 65, 6); Bababola 7
Subs not used: McNicholas, Pemberton, Inniss Bamba
Southend United: ( 3-1-4-2) Hayes 8; Goodliffe 7, Gubbins 7, Ralph 8; Miley 7; Scott-Morriss 7, Coker 7 (Morton 81), Austin 7 (Hopper 81), Boyes 7 (Walker 90); Dallas 7 (Bridge 58), Spasov 7
Subs not used: Andeng-Ndi, Nwike
Half time: Forest Green 0 Southend United 0
Referee: Declan Brown
Star man: Harry Whitwell – topped an outstanding performance with a goal.
Attendance: 2,659
Rating: 4 /5
Match statistics
Forest Green v Southend
Shots on target: 9 / 2
Shots off target:6 /4
Corners: 7 / 4
Offside: 1 / 2
Fouls: 8 / 9
Yellow cards: 2/ 3
Red cards: 0/0
