Rovers travel to Roots Hall to take on fellow playoff-chasing Southend United on Saturday afternoon, where manager Kevin Maher is under pressure after four games without a win, including two draws against the bottom two sides in the division.
“Kev’s done a brilliant job, as a manager now, you seem to get criticised for draws, Kev’s been there for four years, took them to Wembley last year, he’s got two opportunities to get to Wembley this year, twice.
“He’s got a team who know what they’re doing in that 3-5-2 shape, and arguably come the end of the season, Kev could have had a better season than a York or Rochdale.
“I think Southend will make the playoffs because they’ve got three games in hand, and they could win the playoffs, and they could win the FA Trophy.”
Forest Green have struggled away from home against the top sides in the National League this season, beating only Halifax Town inside the top 12 places in their second away game of the season.
“This team now needs to produce in a big game away from home. We’ve played well at times, we were excellent against Carlisle, good against York and Rochdale, and Boreham Wood it was a different us in the 3-5-2, but this team needs to go and produce.
“We’re going to treat it like a playoff quarter-final or semi-final, we’ve got nine cup finals left, and then hopefully two or three more depending on where we finish, and every game from now we’re going to treat as a playoff game.
“A point will be good on the road against Southend, but we’re not going to go there for one; we’re going to try and get all three.”
Christian Doidge is expected to miss the Southend clash, due to his partner expecting to give birth on Saturday.
“Doidgey probably won’t be available at the weekend. I will have the conversation with him today, so it’s an opportunity for others, Jose Marquez is fit now, will he get a chance on the bench; D’Mani Mellor will start, but we need an attacking option off the bench.
Caption: Jose Marquez talking to the media.
“I think finally, after four and a half years, I think Mendy is a midfield player, I think his days of playing centre-half, unless in an emergency, are over, I think his future is in the midfield.
“I think Tate can get better, he needs to scan over his shoulder more, he’s very good on the ball, he’s got his goal, and I’ve been delighted with him, that partnership is starting to grow.”
The 51-year-old commentated on Bodo/Glimt’s 3-0 win over Sporting in the Champions League on Wednesday and made a striking resemblance.
“I likened Bodo/Glimt to Forest Green last night, people might think ‘here he goes again’, but what I mean by that is they’ve got a population of 50,000, 8,000 fans last night watching their team in the Champions League, they could get in the quarter-finals.”
