Match Zone

Match Preview – Forest Green Rovers (H)

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Tomorrow afternoon sees the final home game of the season as we welcome Forest Green Rovers to the Alexandra Stadium.

Looking at the visitors, so far this season they have 20 victories, 13 draws and 11 losses in the league as they sit in 9th place. They have beaten Grimsby Town twice, Notts County, Crawley Town twice, Cambridge United twice, Tranmere Rovers twice, Exeter City, Carlisle United and Yeovil Town twice, us, Newport County, Northampton Town, Stevenage, Colchester United, Port Vale and Macclesfield Town, they have drawn against Oldham Athletic twice, Bury, Stevenage, Swindon Town, Port Vale, MK Dons, Macclesfield, Newport, Cheltenham Town twice, Mansfield Town and Carlisle while they have lost to Northampton, Lincoln City twice, Morecambe, Colchester United, Notts County, Swindon, Mansfield, Morecambe and MK Dons.

In cup competitions, they lost to Wycombe Wanderers on penalties in the EFL Cup 2nd round after beating Swindon in Round 1 while they lost to Oxford United in the FA Cup in a replay. In the EFL Trophy, they finished 3rd in their group that also contained Cheltenham, Arsenal Under-21 and Coventry City.

Looking back in the archives, the two teams have met just three times both teams winning their home games last season and Forest Green winning the meeting before Xmas by a single Joe Mills goal without reply.

Who are the officials for the game?

The officials for this game see Neil Hair as the man in the middle where he is assisted by Simon Clayton and Ken Haycock with Joe Simpson being the fourth official. The following game is the only one that Hair has refereed the Alex:

  • Colchester United 6-0 Crewe Alexandra (21st August 2018)

I asked Forest Green supporter Laurie Martin for his thoughts going into the game.

How would you describe your season since our last meeting?

Very good. A dip in form in February/March is firmly behind us and in recent weeks we’ve developed the ability to win games without being at our best, something that we’ve not been able to do much under Cooper. The return of Doidge answered our calls for a natural goalscorer and to still be in with a shout of automatic promotion with two to play is some achievement.

What do you think the team will be for the game?

Montgomery – Shephard, Rawson, McGinley, Mills – Gunning, Winchester, Brown – Mondal, Doidge, Grubb

Is Brown still the danger man or is there someone else we should look out for?

Brown is still our talisman and has only improved since our last meeting. Other than the high profile return of Doidge, Mondal is the only other new addition, who is very nippy and likes to come inside from the right-wing.

What positions do you feel you need to strengthen for next season?

I suppose much of it will depend on what league we’re in. Despite a big improvement in performances over the last month. I think we’ll need at least one high-quality, experienced centre-half as we’ve seen far too many costly, individual errors from our current centre-backs. I think if we had a Michael Bostwick or a Jason Shackell then we’d probably be 5 or 6 points better off than we are now.

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