Forest Green Rovers manager Robbie Savage remained upbeat despite his side’s 2-1 defeat away at promotion rivals York City, believing Rovers will still be a dangerous side in the play-offs.
“If we get in the playoffs no one will want to play us because they know what we can do.
“The goal is to finish third or fourth now because that will be a home game. Everyone’s going for third to get that home semi final like last year but if we can finish fourth we can go anywhere and win.”
Reflecting on the game, he said: “we lost the game because of two poor moments from the press; a penalty decision and then one long ball over the top which is unacceptable.”
Rovers debutant Ashqar Ahmed gave away a penalty early on to give the home side the lead and Savage said that Ahmed “made a poor decision but he’ll learn from that.”
Despite the result, he stressed there were still positives to take from the performance, “on the whole I was more despondent last week against Wealdstone than I am today, because everyone’s seen how good we are.”
Match highlights from yesterday's National League fixture are now available to watch: 📺
— Forest Green Rovers (@FGRFC_Official) February 8, 2026
Follow your club all season long and watch every game with @DAZN_NationalLg #WeAreFGR💚
Following on from the defeat, Rovers travel to take on top of the league Rochdale on Wednesday night, “we’ll go to Rochdale believing we’ll win” said Savage.
“Both teams will be tired because we’ve both had our games today but we’ll go there with belief and enthusiasm.”
Currently, Savage’s side sit fifth position in the league and will require a change of form after only winning one in their last five league games.
Looking ahead at a tough run of fixtures, Savage added “I can’t wait for Wednesday and Saturday, It’s absolutely brilliant, what a time for these boys to be relishing games.
Rovers will be looking to bounce back as they travel away to Rochdale who are top of the league on Wednesday night.



