Forest Green Rovers were unable to get their first league win since February 8th as they were held to a 1-1 draw with relegation threatened Leyton Orient.
Matty Stevens scored his 22nd league goal of the season after ten minutes following good work from Jamille Matt to get Rovers off to a flyer , but their recent poor form will have certainly been in the back of their minds as they struggled to push on from the opener.
The home fans were desperate for their side to go further ahead in the second half, but their hopes were dashed on 67 minutes when visiting forward Ruel Sotiriou capitalised on some slack Rovers defending to give the Orient fans hope of a potentially crucial win.
Rovers proceeded to push for a winner but came up short as Rob Edwards’ side dropped yet more points, leaving them winless in eight.
After the match, Rovers boss Edwards was happy with his side’s goal but admits he was frustrated that they couldn’t extend their lead further.
“I was pleased that we got the first goal tonight but unfortunately we couldn’t take advantage of it fully.”
“The first half was ok, getting that first goal was great and I thought that might give us some confidence to build on, but credit to Leyton Orient, they managed to get some spells in possession and we struggled to get our usual press on the ball.”
“Second half was similar to the first, their goal was disappointing, but there’s always mistakes, there is at least three for every goal. We had to then weather the storm, it [the goal] gave them some confidence, it probably knocked us a bit and we lacked rhythm.”
Edwards was honest to point out that his side were often lazy in possession, losing the ball whenever they won it back.
“When we had the ball, we gave it back too often and that’s probably because we’re going through a tough period. We’re almost trying too hard to make things happen and it is not coming off at the moment.”
“Overall, 1-1 is a fair result, there was no doubt we were below our best but if we keep plugging away, we know that win is around the corner.”
Rovers right back Kane Wilson also spoke post-match, admitting that his side need to start taking three points from winning positions once again.
“We’ve conceded first in a lot of games lately, so it was nice to score first, but we want to start winning these games now.”
When asked about the team’s confidence following the opener, Kane said his side were up for the occasion after the goal.
“We came out firing all guns blazing, I feel like everyone was on it. Second half we made some changes and fair play to Orient, they got the ball and started playing. It was unlucky for us that they scored and it’s a shame we couldn’t nick a goal at the end.”
Rovers will hope to get back on track on Monday evening when they play Colchester United, the game live on Sky Sports Main Event, kick off at 19:45.