Forest Green Rovers boss Robbie Savage described himself as “relieved” after his side ended their three-game losing run with a deserved victory at in-form Hornchurch.
Rovers produced a disciplined performance to come away with the points, with Ricardo Rees’ early goal proving decisive before a stunning late save from Ethan Ross ensured Forest Green held on to claim a clean sheet.
And for Savage, seeing the relief on his players’ faces after the final whistle meant as much as the result itself.
“Yeah, relief. That’s what it is,” he said.
“When you love being in a position as much as I do, and you’ve had the opportunity to work with that group of players and make them better every day, to see their faces and the disappointment when we get beat, to see that relief at the end meant a lot.”
Savage was keen to keep the result in perspective with the season still in its infancy, but said Rovers thoroughly deserved their victory.
“Listen, we’re six games in, but I’ve always said in this league, you’d rather win games than draw games, believe it or not.
“We thoroughly deserved the win.
“We continued our form from Altrincham with that first half performance, created numerous chances, and they never really threatened at all.
“I don’t think Ethan had a save to make. We have to be a little bit more clinical, but again, we got into some great areas.
“I thought there were some outstanding performances, individually and collectively.
“As a manager, it’s relief, especially when you’ve lost a few. But the biggest, biggest pleasing thing for me is the clean sheet.
“I thought we defended unbelievably well as a team.”
Savage was particularly pleased with the way Rovers worked their way to Rees’ opener, praising the tactical setup which allowed Sean Etaluku to stay wide and deliver the decisive cross.
“It’s a brilliant goal from Ricardo Rees,” he said.
“We play a little bit lopsided with Macca (Kyle McAllister) coming infield, and I was just saying to Sean (Etaluku), ‘Stay out wide, stay out wide. When you get a one-on-one, get at him. Get that yard and whip it in.’
“When he plays on the right, he goes into traffic. When he plays on the left, he can just get that yard and whip it in.
“It was a great ball and Ricardo, what a finish.
“Near-post run, second goal of the season. It’s a great goal.
“We could have had one earlier with a header, his keeper had a great save, Ricardo’s had an air shot, and we got into some great positions and had balls across the box.
“I thought we were tremendous. The goal was great, the movement was great. We worked on that lopsided shape with Sean staying out wide, so it worked a treat.”
Savage was reluctant to single out just one player, saying the performances across the team deserved recognition.
“The people I like to praise? All of them. There are superlatives from all today.”
He reserved particular praise for Kai Ajayi, who made his first start for the club.
“Kai Ajayi came in today and made his first start.
“There are reasons why he’s adapting to professional football. He’s only become a professional footballer eight weeks ago, so his body and everything else, he’s now ready, and his performance showed that.
“I want to give a huge positive to him. He’s been magnificent, even out of the team, and even after the game last week he came up to me and said, ‘Keep going gaffer, the lads believe in you.’”
Savage also praised the contributions of the players who came into the side or made an impact from the bench.
“Kario Mitchell came on and he’s worked exceptionally hard in training. That physical presence up there, he ran so hard. I’m so pleased for him.
“Kelvin (Abrefa), the new signing, Tate Campbell and Jayden Clarke were magnificent. Ricardo with the goal, and Gabe Kircough — it’s been tough when you’re not in the side.
“The hardest thing for a manager is keeping those players’ spirits up at times, and last year it was hard.
“This year, the group are amazing, and for the boys who came in today, that meant a lot to them. It meant a lot to me.
“I was pleased with them all, but there were some huge performances.”
The decisive moment came late on when goalkeeper Ethan Ross produced an outstanding save to preserve Rovers’ lead.
“The save at the end from the keeper just would have been our luck after we’d dominated,” Savage said.
“They’re a threat from throw-ins and set pieces, but we headed everything and cleared everything.
“That one moment where it’s a great strike, and he’s got down to the right and it’s an unbelievable save.
“That’s inevitably what he’s paid to do.”
Savage also explained the thinking behind his late second-half changes as Rovers switched to a more defensive shape.
“You’ve got to identify what the game needs. One thing that I think we’ve been quite good at, as a staff, is identifying what the game needs.
“We did it in the opening two games of the season.
“When it comes off, everybody says, ‘Well, great subs.’ When it doesn’t come off, they say, ‘Why did you make those subs?’
“But today, when you went to a 5-4-1, with Ollie (Ewing) on the left, the two in midfield, Kai (Ajayi) on the right, Gabe (Kircough) back into the centre-half position and Kairo (Mitchell) for the physical presence, that’s what you need a squad for.
“One thing we’ve been good at is identifying what the game needs, and it needed that.
“Even if they didn’t nick one late on, the game still needed that.
“So, yeah, delighted. Three wins, hopefully now we’re off and running.”
The result also provided a welcome lift for everyone connected with the club after a difficult run.
Savage revealed he had spoken with owner Dale Vince before the game and said the victory meant a great deal to those behind the scenes.
“It’s nice to go home and spend time with my family, actually spend time with my family.
“It’s relief because Dale’s (Vince) rung me this morning and Asif (Rehmanwala). I know I mention them all the time, it’s a team effort.
“This will mean a lot to them because I could feel it in Dale this morning. He’s desperate for us to do well because we’ve got such a great relationship.
“When you’ve got a relationship with good people who know you’re trying, you’ve got that support.
“I say every week, even when we lose, and this isn’t me saying it to get people to stay with us because we’re losing games, inevitably as a manager you’re always judged on results.
“Let’s be totally honest.
“Even though I know I’ve got the support of brilliant people, if you lose five, six, seven, eight on the run, it becomes very difficult.
“So today was massive for us all. Not just me, Mark (Bowen), the owners, everybody associated with the club and the fans.”
The Forest Green boss also paid tribute to the supporters who backed the team throughout the afternoon.
“I went over to the fans at the end. At Fylde it was tough. It was tough to stand there and get hammered by a few, which hurt.
“I said to them at the end, ‘Listen, just remember that this group, a young group, will find it difficult at times. It’ll be a rollercoaster. Stick with them. Sing about our players, get behind our players.’
“At times we need them. They’re brilliant. Look at the support — brilliant.
“We want to win games of football, but trust me, we want to win as much as they do.
“I’ve got to say, our supporters today were brilliant. At times when we were struggling, being vocal and supporting the players helps them.”
Savage insisted the players had continued to believe in themselves despite the losing run.
“It’s not hard because we see the way they train. I’ve spoken to numerous managers this week — senior managers who have probably got 2,000 games between them at all levels.
“I said, ‘When you’re in a little run like this, what do you do?’
“And all of them said, ‘Repeat, repeat, repeat.’
“If you’re looking at everything, look at the data, which is all good except for the Boreham Wood game. You watch them train and the training is unbelievable.
“We film training and you watch it and you’re thinking, ‘Wow, how good are these players?’
“They believe in themselves. They believe in themselves.
“Today was a different us. It was a battling, massive performance. It wasn’t a game for playing round the back and nice little patterns, but we thoroughly deserved the win.”
Savage also paid tribute to the Hornchurch management team.
“I never say that in terms of the opposition. The manager was class, Daryl (Mahon) and Anton (Ferdinand). They were brilliant with me. They’ve done unbelievable at this football club.
“They’re still above us in the table. We’ve got to catch them, but hopefully now that’ll kickstart us and we can go on a run.”
Rovers now face a behind-closed-doors fixture at Bristol Rovers on Monday before turning their attention to Gateshead.
“Another difficult game next week,” Savage said.
“But now we’ve got a behind-closed-doors game against Bristol Rovers on Monday at their training ground, which is going to be a regular thing. They come to us, we go to them.
“It’s a brilliant relationship we have with Steve Evans.
“So that’ll be a game Monday, and then we train hard Tuesday and look forward to Gateshead.”
The Rovers boss also declined to criticise the officials.
“No. Listen, I’m not going to comment. I know it’s a difficult job.
“I’ve never commented on referees in my 15 months. It’s a difficult job.
“It’s a difficult job being a fourth official. I like to speak to people how I would like to be spoken to, and I think I did that.
“The fourth official at the end said thank you for speaking to me.
“It’s a difficult decision, but they’ve come to the right one, they believe, and I have to adhere to that.”
And despite the pressures of management, Savage admitted he remains as passionate as ever about the job.
“As a manager, now you go home and there’s relief. But when I get home tonight, I’ll watch the highlights back. I’ll watch the game back.
“I’ll then watch Gateshead’s game tomorrow. I’ll get a plan from my staff, start the plan for Gateshead, analyse it.
“It doesn’t stop, but I wouldn’t change it.
“There’s always a fear as a manager when you love something so much that it ends. And I don’t want this to end.
“One day it will, but I love it.”
