Forest Green boss Robbie Savage insists his young, developing side are in rude health, after his team pushed league leaders Rochdale to the wire.
Mani Dieseruvwe’s double earned the league leaders a seventh consecutive win, as individual mistakes proved to be Rovers’ Achilles’ heel in a 2-1 loss.
A slip from Bristol City loanee Elijah Morrison presented Dieseruvwe with an opener inside the opening two minutes. Harry Isted’s strong glove denied Devante Rodney as Dale threatened a second.
Rovers quickly found their feet and bossed possession. Nick Haughton saw his goalbound strike blocked from Kyle McAllister’s exquisite pass. Ricardo Rees missed a great chance to net parity, but fizzed his strike into Manchester City loanee Oliver Whatmuff.
Savage’s side grabbed the equaliser they deserved just before the break- flying Scotsman McAllister skipped inside from the right and fizzed a left-foot strike from the edge of the box for his 13th goal of the season. Rovers almost grabbed a second in stoppage-time, but Whatmuff did well to palm away a teasing Haughton free-kick.
At the other end, Rees was on his mettle to clear off the line in a second-half melee. However, Rovers pressed the self-destruct button when Reading loanee Ashqar Ahmed, who had caught the eye with his attacking intent, was robbed on 64 minutes, allowing Dan Moss to set up Dieseruvwe for his 17th goal of the season.
Moments later, Harvey Bunker cleared off the line, and then, with 10 minutes to go, Whatmuff denied Bunker from a McAllister cross as the home side held out for the win.
Rovers were once again punished as individual errors gifted Dale their goals, but an upbeat Savage said: “Rinse and repeat, first half, best we’ve played. I think everybody in the stadium could see it. To come here and dominate the ball like we did and get the equaliser. Coming back again from a mistake, another mistake. Then Kyle McAllister with a great goal, Nick Haughton hit the post, chances, Ricardo Rees one-on-one. They’ve had a couple, but we were magnificent first half and the message at half-time was, don’t let me stand with you guys again saying, ‘do you know what, another good performance, but we’ve lost again.’”
“And it’s an error, another error leading to a goal. I don’t know why when they’ve changed tactic in the second-half, you see it, they’ve pressed. So the message was put in behind what we think is a good idea-to play to our full-back who’s running back towards his own goal. Yeah, you might say that Ash wants the ball in that scenario, so he’s either got to set it or just get a foul. Then one of the most dangerous centre-forwards in the league is left on his own and he scores. Even then we’ve had a header from Bunks (Harvey Bunker), we’ve had chances.
“Again, it’s another situation. The test was how far have we come in this young group and I thought they were brilliant, but it’s boring saying this now every week and it’s the same thing. People look at the result, it’s another loss. But we are six months into a journey and their managers said it, before the game and after the game, that we’re the best team they’ve played on the two occasions and we are two years behind these in terms of the development of the players and we’re two years behind York and this team will be eventually when they eradicate the mistakes and they’re going to get and they’re going to learn and they’re going to learn.”
He highlighted the team’s resilience: “I know there’s resilience in this team. We’ve taken 19 points from losing positions this season. They’ve taken six. So I know if we go behind, we can come back, but we can’t start like that. You know, the message is just get the control in the game, do the right things, make no mistakes. And there’s a mistake again. But they’re going to learn, they’re going to learn. I thought a few of our lads had a difficult night, that’s why the changes we made. But even then, Bunks (Harvey Bunker) made a great clearance, and there were some brilliant defending moments, throwing themselves in front of stuff. So I commend my team for that, the desire to keep the ball out of the net.”
Savage lauded McAllister and midfield duo Chibby Nwoko and Tate Campbell: “I think Kyle’s got 18 goal involvements this season. His best season’s 20, so he’s still got lots of time to do that. He’s a massive player for us, one of the best in the league. The youngsters, Chibby Nwoko and Tate Campbell, they controlled the game. So we’ve gone to York, dominated, but they’ve won the game 2-1 and come here in the first half, and it seemed like even the crowd behind me were saying they couldn’t wait for the half-time whistle. But again, we’ve lost the game.”
Watch boss Robbie Savage’s post-match verdict
On the long-term development of his young squad: “We’re disappointed we haven’t won. We’re six months into a journey. People have got to understand that, and we’re going to get the time to do that because the whole club will be in a far better place in two or three years. You’ve got to trust in us—me, Dale, Asif, and Mark. You can see we’re six months into a journey and we’ve got to get in the playoffs. If we can play like that, and just the fine margins, coming to Rochdale, going to York, going to Boreham Wood, going to Carlisle, going to Scunthorpe -we’ve lost in those games. Not Boreham Wood yet. We might win. They won’t want to play us. And if the momentum comes with 15 games to go, we’re going to be a threat to anybody.”
Watch Dale boss Jimmy McNulty heap praise on Rovers in his post-match verdict
Rovers now turn their attention to hosting high-flying Carlisle at the New Lawn on Saturday, hoping to convert their strong performances into victories. Savage remains optimistic: “Every game is big when you’re a player and staff at a club. It is big. That’s why I wanted to test us against the two best teams in the league. Again, we’re getting all the plaudits, but we’re losing games. Something’s got to change. A bit of luck, a mistake that doesn’t end in the back of our net. But we’re losing games. I don’t want to dig individuals out because they’re all trying, but inevitably we make mistakes-me included. If we didn’t make mistakes as a group, we’d be in the Premier League. Us as a group will make mistakes, but we’re making mistakes together. Maybe I’ve made mistakes tonight, but I’ll look in the mirror and think, what could we have done better? My players don’t intend to make mistakes and they’re going to learn.
“Then people will say, ‘let’s get experience back in,’ but we’ve had experience at the club for the last three seasons—two relegations and we didn’t go up last year. But we’re playing a much better style of football. We’re playing attacking football with young, dynamic players who need to learn quickly. We know that.
“So we’re going to continue on this journey and this path because we are a very, very good side. Nobody can tell me any different. We’re making mistakes together, and we will eventually-whether it’s this year, next year, in two years-be where Rochdale and York are because that’s the time they’ve had to develop a group. We’ve exceeded expectations.”
Rochdale: Whatmuff, Gordon, East (78’ Pettit), Ebanks-Landell ©, Gilmour, Dieseruvwe (78’ Henderson), Rodney (71’ Pritchard), Adebayo-Rowling (78’ Hosannah), Burger (71’ Barlow), Moss, Perry.
Unused subs: Allarakhia, Duku.
Goals: 2’ 59’ Dieseruvwe.
Forest Green: Isted, Mendy ©, McAllister, Haughton (71’ Clarke), Morrison (71’ Kengni), Campbell, Buyabu (90’ Doidge), Kircough (56’ Bunker), Nwoko, Rees, Ahmed (90’ Knowles).
Unused subs: Pagel, Pemberton.
Goals: 43’ McAllister.
Attendance: 2,646 (76 away).
Star Man: Chibby Nwoko
