Forest Green Rovers boss Robbie Savage has praised his side’s resilience despite falling to a 5-1 defeat against Championship side, Cardiff City, in pre-season.
A first-half hat-trick from Chris Willock accompanied goals from Yousef Salech and Isaak Davies for a show of dominance despite Kyle Kelly’s second-half consolation goal.
“It was a great test for us, we knew coming into the last four pre-season games that we could get beaten in every one, but we wanted that test structurally,” Savage said on the defeat.
“Brian (Barry-Murphy) has got them playing really well, the first goal was a brilliant goal. One thing I was disappointed with was in the first-half against Bristol Rovers we pressed and pressed again whereas today we were off of them, we were a bit inferior.
“Some of the players at the training ground yesterday said ‘wow, this is the biggest game I have ever played in my life’, that sums it up where our players are coming from. It was a massive test for us, but it was a poor first-half, even though we created a couple of chances. It was a great learning curve for some of our players. We don’t want to be scoring seven or eight against opposition that we know we should beat. They are the tests we want because that is where my players aspire to get to.”
The Bluebirds found themselves ahead eight minutes into the game after some brilliant build-up play from the back found brilliant space down the right-hand side for an easy pass into Davies to open the scoring.
The quality in difference was evident to see from Brian Barry-Murphy’s side as a hat-trick from Chris Willock were joined with goals from Isaak Davies and Yousef Salech.
The Championship side doubled their advantage seven minutes later when a mix-up at the back between Pagel and Emeka Obi found Willock in for another easy finish.
Luke McNicholas and Ethan Ross both missed out from the game. On their absence, Savage said: “Ethan saved a shot in training from Nick (Haughton), he got hit in the ear. He had the protocol for concussion; he is out for seven days. Luke, after training, had a stiff neck, so both goalkeepers that are challenging to start are out. Hopefully, Ethan will be available for Swindon and Luke will be available for Wednesday.”
Willock added another with a curling effort 21 minutes after cutting in from the left-hand side to assert their dominance even further in the game.
Brian Barry-Murphy’s side were four to the good just three minutes later when Salech had a well-driven effort past the Rovers goalkeeper.
Willock grabbed his hat-trick within 36 minutes from the spot when a route one ball was played from Nathan Trott over the Rovers defence, for which a penalty was given for a handball. Eventually, calmly slotted away by the winger.
Rovers had the ball in the net after 62 minutes when Jayden Clarke’s effort inside of the box was drilled into the top-corner, but it was ruled out by the assistant referee after being deemed to have been out of the field of play.
Liverpool loanee, Kelly, opened his account for Rovers after signing in the week after a well-struck effort deflected past Trott in the Cardiff goal.
“I was pleased with all of the subs’ impact. Josh Osude, Tre (Pemberton), Jayden (Clarke) and Kyle (Kelly). It was a really positive second-half, we did all the things we didn’t in the first-half. What an outfit (Cardiff) are, you can see why they are in the Championship. I am absolutely delighted with the workout, we want to win every game, but we knew that the last four games were going to be tough.”
New signing, Omari Patrick, also came off of the bench for a 20-minute cameo. On his appearance, Savage said: “Very good, the aim is to score over 100 goals in the league, we certainly have the firepower to do that. We are probably looking at a couple of defensive options with (Laurent) Mendy going. I think we are a little bit short there. One or two might be told they can go out on loan, we are in a great place.”
Forest Green Rovers 1 (Kelly 68)
Cardiff City 5 (Davies 8, Willock 15 21 36, Salech 24)
Forest Green Rovers (4-2-3-1): Pagel; Agina (Pemberton 58), Obi, Ajayi, Kengni; Campbell, Ewing (Clarke 58); Etaluku (Kelly 46), McAllister, Berry (Osude 58); Mellor.
Subs not used: Godfrey, Marquez, Conteh, Walsh, Kircough, Haughton.
Cardiff City (4-2-3-1): Trott (Tyrer 69); Kpakio, Fish, Osho (Katsukunya 69), Bagan (Thomas 69); Robertson (King 64), Turnbull (Anyadike 79); Davies (Tankiewicz 69), Colwill (Moreno 69), Willock (Tanner 46); Salech (Robinson 69).
Subs not used: James, Williams.
Half time: Forest Green Rovers 0-5 Cardiff City
Star man: Chris Willock (Cardiff City, left-winger)
Attendance: 2755 (1786 away)
Rating: 4/5
Referee: Ross Martin
Rovers next host another Championship side in Bristol City on Wednesday night (7:00pm kick-off).
