Forest Green Rovers manager Robbie Savage said he felt like a “broken record” after his side were forced to settle for a 1–1 draw against Wealdstone despite creating a raft of opportunities.
Coventry City loanee Isaac Moore got Rovers off to a flying start as his flying header from Jili Buyabu’s cross nosed them ahead at the break. However. a plethora of missed chances cost the Nailsworth side as Micah Obiero prodded home the leveller through a crowded box on the hour mark.
In a high-octane finish, Wealdstone keeper Dante Baptiste foiled an 89th-minute effort from substitute Aidan Dausch, and fizzed the ball upfield, where Daniel Nkrumah’s strike was smartly blocked by Harry Isted in the Rovers goal.
Savage cut a visibly frustrated figure after the draw ends Forest Green’s four-match winning run and drops them from first to fourth in an increasingly competitive top end of the table. He lamented: “I’m like a broken record now. I don’t think I’ve ever been as frustrated in a game. We’ve created 30 shots, we’ve scored one goal -they’ve had three shots, scored one. We can’t keep creating this many chances and only scoring one goal – and then mistake defensively.
The manager praised the intensity and commitment of his players for the majority of the match but stressed that decisive moments continue to cost them: “I thought for 88 minutes, my team outstanding, but that period had just switched off.
“We should win the game – the game should be done, buried, but again, I’m saying the same thing every week and I’m bored of myself. To create that many chances once again to play the style of football we do, we have to take our chances. If we take three or four of them, we’ve won the game comfortably – players have had an opportunity to shoot numerous times and they don’t. Draws aren’t good enough in this league.
“We encourage them to play free, to take risks, to do what they can in the final third. I’m as frustrated as everybody watching because our team are so good going forward, but how many chances did he get into the box and not shoot?
I’ve said to them, if you shoot and put the ball over the bar, the keeper saves it, whatever, end with something, whether that’s a goal kick, whether it’s a corner, whether it’s a deflection for the throwing, end with something.”
Savaged lavished praise on striker Temi Babalola, hed said: “I thought Temi Babalola was fantastic today, I thought his build up play was and his aggression, I thought he was unbelievable for us today Temi, what a shift from him.”
Wealdstone: Baptiste; Nsasi, Cook, McAvoy, Boldewijn; Hutchinson, Agyemang, Kadji (Mussa 71), Tshikuna; Olomola (Nkrumah 66), Obiero.
Subs not used: Graczyk, Tiensia, Diarra, Turner, Petrie.
Forest Green Rovers: Isted; Knowles (Pemberton 71), Mendy, Kanu, Buyabu (Kengni 46); Moore, Bunker; McAlister, Whitwell, Clarke (Dausch 71); BabalolaSubs not used: McNicholas, Inniss, Haughton, Doidge.
Referee: William Finnie.
Attendance: 1,560.
Star Man: Laurent Mendy
