Brimming full of confidence, Forest Green boss Robbie Savage insists his side is in rude health as they strap themselves in for the final four matches of the regular season.
Savage’s play-off chasers proved too hot to handle as goals from in-form D’Mani Mellor and three second-half strikes from captain Kyle McAllister, Sheffield United loanee Jili Buyabu, and Laurent Mendy’s first for the club put part-timers Brackley Town into deep relegation waters.
The match turned decisively when Zak Brown was sent off in stoppage time, leaving Brackley with ten men.
Rovers require one more win from the final four games to secure a play-off place, though Savage is aiming higher: “If we get four wins, that’s 86 points, which beats last season’s total by three points. Beating last season’s total would be an incredible effort, especially considering the changes we’ve made at the club and the 26 new players we’ve assembled.
“We’ve got momentum—that’s five wins in seven, another clean sheet, and eight goals in two games. This is what I want my teams to do: attack, be relentless. We’ve had our sticky patch.”
Playing without a handbrake, Savage’s side were relentless: “I want my players to be free in the final third and play with the freedom and the set piece was not a planned one, it was instinct,” Savage said.
“Kyle (McAllister and Nick (Haughton), brilliant, D’Mani (Mellor), second goal, first home goal, thought he was terrific once again.”
Savage hooked Neil Kengni at the break, allowing Jili Buyabu to push forward in a front free: “Neil Kengni was good first half,” said Savage.
“I thought Jili (Buyabu) in a front three, you know, he didn’t have a chance to run at people because Kengni was giving him the ball, So we just thought it was nothing against Kenji’s performance, he’s been brilliant. We just thought Jili coming, coming onto the ball would make a huge difference, i.e. the goal.
“So tactically it worked and we got the three goals in the second-half and two absolute worldies. Kyle’s goal, Nick’s three assists were outstanding. I said to him in there, “well done — three assists, about time.” He joked back about playing 90 minutes, and I said I don’t mind that when he’s producing like that — but that’s the standard now, he’s got to do it consistently and Mendy’s goal was unbelievable and so was Kyle’s. It was a good deserve 4-0 win.”
Savage feels his side are equipped to beat last seasons points total: “The objective is to beat last year points total of 83, which finished third in the league. We’re on 74, the group last year, we’re at this stage on 75. If we can beat Truro, we’ll have a better points tally this year than last, with 26 new players. And it was a brave thing, which the club decided to do. A, to bring me in after one successful season at Macclesfield. Dale (Vince) showed a belief in me, as did Mark (Bowen) and Asif (Rehmanwala) did. And we said, listen, let’s go and create a model where we want to develop young players and play with a spirit and a desire and and a willingness to get better, and me included, and that’s what we’re doing.
“So I don’t think we get enough recognition, cutting the budget quite considerably, bringing the average age of the team down. Because it’s Forest Green and historically we’ve been in the league and, you know, Dale’s just such a huge, you know, person at his football club and he backs every manager. But again, we’ve done it a different way now.”
All the meaningful action in the first half took place in a frenzied six minutes of added time, with Brown incurring a second yellow for dangling a boot towards Buyabu. Rovers quickly pressed home the numerical advantage. Mellor watched a goalbound effort hacked off the line, but the predatory strike was on the money in the sixth minute of added time—turning the ball home on the line from Nick Haughton’s driving run and delivery across the box following McAllister’s quick corner.
Brackley’s Matt Lowe should have netted parity on the resumption of the second half, planting his free header wide from Scott Pollock’s corner.
Rovers’ Tom Knowles missed a chance to make it 2-0 with 20 minutes left on the clock, fizzing into the side-netting from substitute Tate Campbell’s slide-rule pass.
Rovers made it two on 74 minutes. McAllister exploded a shot beyond Harrison Rhone from Haughton’s deft flick. Two minutes later, and in a blink of an eye, McAllister picked out Haughton, who rolled in the supporting Buyabu for Rovers’ game-over third.
The icing on the vegan club’s cake was sealed with two minutes to go. Mendy thumped home from 30 yards, his first goal in a Rovers shirt, as the roof came off the New Lawn.
A dejected Brackley boss Andy Whing felt the red card changed the narrative of the game: “I thought we played very well for 44 minutes and probably had the best chance of the game. With the wind, they probably just had pot shots from 25 yards, but the red card completely changed the game and it was men against boys at times.”
Forest Green (4-2-3-1): Isted 6; Kengni 6 (Campbell 46, 7), Kanu 6 (Moore-Taylor 75, 6), Mendy 8, Knowles 7 (Ahmed 80); Nwoko 6 (Babola 61, 6), Clarke 6 (Robson 80); Buyabu 7, McAllister 9, Haughton 8; Mellor 8
Subs not used: Pagel, Mingi
Brackley Town (4-4-2): Rhone 5; Morrison 5, Dean 6, Lilley 6, Trip 6; Brown 6, Roberts 6, Pollock 7, Elliott-Wheeler 6 (Byrne 62, 6); Lowe 6, Campbell 6 (Harratt 27, 6)
Subs not used: Maxted, Calder, Nottingham, Worby, Hall
Full-time: Forest Green 4 (Mellor 45+2, McAllister 74, Buyabu 76, Mendy 78) Brackley Town 0
Half-time: Forest Green 1 Brackley Town 0
Referee: Craig Hicks
Star man: Kyle McAllister
Attendance: 2,095
Rating: 4/5
FGR/ Brackley
Shots on target: 7 / 0
Shots off target: 7 / 2
Corners: 16/ 3
Offside: 3 / 2
Fouls: 8 / 9
Yellow cards: 0 / 2
Red cards: 0/1
Rovers travel to bottom of the table Truro on Easter Monday, 3pm.
