FAN’S VIEW 22/23 – No.22: FOREST GREEN ROVERS AT HOME

Our opponents

Given the size of the town – Nailsworth with a population of under 6k – where they are based, what FGR have achieved is quite remarkable. (Whoops gone all David Coleman there).

Until 82/83 they’d not played higher than the Hellenic League then had 13 seasons in the Southern League Midland division before being transferred across to the Southern League Southern division. In their second season there they won it and were promoted to the Southern League Premier division and promptly won that too making it to the Conference (now National League) for the 98/99 season. They finished in a relegation spot in 2004/05 and 2009/10 but got a lucky reprieve when first Northwich Victoria then Salisbury City were demoted for being naughty. Truth be told Forest Green were probably still in shock from quite possibly the best own goal ever scored. 2001 Wayne Hatswell under no pressure, hammering the ball into the top corner from inches out against Morecambe in the FA Cup with as much venom as it is possible to muster. So bad it was that we signed him.

In 2016/17 they won the play-offs to get into the Football league and after five years in L2 now play in L1 for the first time having finished top last term. They’d come close twice earlier, being losing play-off semi-finalists in 18/19 and 20/21.

In 2010 the club were in financial difficulty and approached Dale Vince the eco industrialist whose green energy firm Ecotricity is based in Stroud. He didn’t say no and the club became his. Vince’s greenness has pervaded every single area of the club. Their FULL accounts to y/e 30/06/21 note in the strategic report section that FIFA have recognised them as being “the greenest football club in the world”. This has given them worldwide recognition and they now have over 100 fan clubs across the world. They’ve now had planning permission to build a new “eco-friendly wooden stadium.”

As with all clubs there was a drop in revenue due to Covid but costs decreased too and they ended up making a profit of £1.3m before tax. They have net assets of £2.9m.

Their wages and salaries bill was £3.6m which I suspect was far from being the highest in L2 that season.

I thought they might surprise a few in our division this season but I was wrong. They’re bottom. They’ve won just one and drawn three of their last ten games and in the last four have scored only one goal.

FGR’s average home attendance is 3069 which considering the size of the place is very commendable. They’ve even got a bigger average than Burton.

Military day. More firepower than we had.

Oxford United 1 Forest Green Rovers 1

Every football match and performance of the teams participating has to be put into context and there will be plenty of facts flying around that can be used, twisted, logically deemed to be either relevant or irrelevant or completely ignored depending on one’s mind set. A glass half empty or full type of person will pick as suits. Even in all this I try to go for the realism if that is at all possible in the passionate haze and anger of supporting a football team.

There were boos at the final whistle. I think I contributed for a split second. My wife had her head phones on listening to Radio Oxford as we left. She said Jerome has just asked supporters to ring in and say why they booed.

It was rather obvious to me why.

In the toilets at the end of the game there was one old guy (who am I to talk?) who said out loud, “I’ve seen some shit but that’s taking the piss”. Indeed.

We’d just dropped two home points to the team at the foot of the table. A team that wasn’t very good and would have been devoured by a good side. That our man of the match was our keeper is an even more telling indictment of how dreadful the whole affair was.

Our recent form has provided evidence that we are making strides forward but for me this was taking a fair few steps backwards again. For the first time this season I’d reached the stage where I felt I wouldn’t have been embarrassed to take non supporting Oxford Utd friends along to the Kassam or encouraged those who have dropped the habit of watching the yellows to get back up there. Bloody glad I didn’t have to explain this one to any such people.

This was back to the usual garbage we’ve been served up this season at home, last week’s four goal triumph being an exceptional outlier. Every Oxford fan who had paid to watch on Saturday was short changed. This was not a one off. If it was it would be understandable because these things happen, but not on such a regular basis if all is well. All is not well. We’ve played ten home games this season and won just three of them.

There are those that point out we’re unbeaten in seven games and are therefore moving in the right direction. Better than losing of course and indicates that we must be quite hard to beat but dropping home points in games like this is not on for me. We’d already cocked up too often this season for me to feel able to cut much slack for further sub-standard performances such as this one.

Karl Robinson on the radio after the game said that this could be a good point at the end of the season. Well it bloody well isn’t now. He explained that playing on that pitch at Woking in those conditions had taken its toll on the players. That is a valid point to some extent but if we had not signed the crocks we have that are never fit to play and instead had more to choose from each game, this would be much less of an issue.

Billy Bodin went off injured early on and our manager catalogued the problems with Cameron Brannagan, James Henry, Ciaron Brown and Marcus Browne. Hamstrings, a calf and something else was mentioned too. These are not impact injuries. Again, these things happen but on such a scale must raise questions about our conditioning and fitness do they not? Or is KR just playing mind games ahead of the Exeter cup tie?

There’s no doubt we started the game on fire. No sleeping on this occasion. We had four corners in the first two minutes and were all over the opposition. It looked as though the goals were bound to come with the FGR defence looking shaky.

However, we didn’t find the back of the net until the 19^th minute and by then that early dominance had noticeably started to subside. Also it was an own goal and James Henry was probably off-side, so we got lucky but nevertheless it should have been the springboard to go on and take the three points.

We did put together a move or two but something wasn’t right and my categorisation of the first 45 minutes was “not very good” even though we were a goal up. If it hadn’t been for Simon Eastwood, who was absolutely magnificent throughout, we wouldn’t have been winning at that stage. He pulled off some top class saves, blocked when needed and came and caught high balls. Back to really good form and playing like that I’m happy to have him in the team. Shame others had not followed his lead.

The moaning at half time was not directed at our team but referee Simon Mather. Every bit of abuse flung in his direction as he walked off was justified. There are still some who say referees have a hard time. Yes they do – and here’s why. James Henry had his shirt pulled as he broke into the box which stopped him doing anything. Everyone looking on from the South Stand could see it and so could Mather the ******* ******* ******. (Fill in as appropriate). Then a few seconds later a thuggish challenge was launched on Ciaron Brown on the touch line. A yellow card was the least that should have been shown but instead he just blew for half time and that was it, off the players trooped.

In the interest of balance Mather did some things well like penalising and in some cases booking those dressed in shocking pink when they obstructed or rugby tackled Simon Eastwood as he attempted to release the ball quickly. The ten minutes added at the end was to be commended too.

Those actions were symptomatic of much of FGR’s approach to the game.  At times we were hardly getting a football match to watch.

Our back line was noticeably missing captain Elliot Moore who was out because he’d taken a kick late on at Woking. We looked nowhere near as secure at the back without him. He’s the one who wins the high balls and gets them away. His replacement, the returning Sam Long, appeared somewhat rusty and to me his partner Stuart Findlay looked to be lacking confidence. I wonder if he’s being asked to play a game that’s not natural to him, bringing the ball out from the back.

Of the others in that back four Brown was mostly his usual solid self and saw a lot of the ball in the first half. In the other full-back position Djavan Anderson must have run many miles during this game. He was my outfield man of the match and provided most of what little excitement there was to be had. With his pace he can go past opponents as if they’re not there. In added time he was still totally going for it but possibly even he had run out of energy and had tired mentally. He lost the ball once, which was a rarity and caused a bit of a worry that a Rovers break away could make our afternoon even worse. Also when coming in from the right, I thought he should have kept going and got a shot away instead of crossing but his record shows he’s not a goal-scorer. Nor is he a full back. On current form he is very much an asset.

At times it is difficult to work out how integral and valuable certain players are to the team. There are times when I marvel at some of the stuff Marcus Browne does. There are other times when I get frustrated with him. In this it was more of the latter. He seemed too greedy, running into trouble when a pass was on. A pass that would have been more beneficial to his side. I even heard comment that he has not been a good signing. No way would I go that far but he needs to be turned into more of a team player sooner rather than later. That’s down to the coaching staff to ensure happens. That said though I do feel sorry for the guy because he is a target for opposing players. The game had hardly started and he’d been taken down twice. They could have just been mis-timed challenges but just as likely deliberate. Yellow cards early on would likely put paid to such activity and bring about a game more pleasing on the eye.

It was Browne who was fouled just on the edge of the area as the 90 minute mark was approaching. We played our now usual free-kick. Brannagan to Browne who kills it dead for the taker to then shoot low. It wasn’t far wide at all. If it works then why not, but do we have a plan B in such situations?

Sam gets a yellow. Photo Simon Jaggs

I can’t remember if a yellow was shown for that foul but the visitors did end up with six. We had just the one. That was for Long who nearly took Kyle McAllister’s head off with his boot. There was nothing intentional about it but the oohs from those in the North stand who had a close up view let the rest of us know how horrible it was. A groggy McAllister was led off to be replaced by Jamille Matt.

With Matt and Connor Wickham up front FGR had a physical presence in that area of the park that we could only dream of. We are of course now without Kyle Joseph (out injured after a foul at Shrewsbury) and he’s not that sort of player anyway. Matty Taylor certainly isn’t and Gatlin O’Donkor in the 23 mins he had on the pitch didn’t ruffle the opposition up or influence the game much although he did have one header that went just over.

When the equaliser came on the hour mark it was of no surprise to me. We’d not got a proper grip on the game and it looked like they could undo us on the break.

Matt took a throw down the line on his chest having given Anderson a little push out of the way. Technically probably a foul but probably one of those where commentators say the defender “needs to be stronger.” Brannagan should then really have cut out Matt’s pass but turned a bit awkwardly and fell over leaving Josh Marsh with the ball. He moved it on to a colleague in space on the right who delivered an inviting centre which went over Long and was headed back across Eastwood from inside the 6 yard box by Matt.

For most of the rest of the game it was them and not us who went closest. We really got away with it in one instance when Rovers hit the post, the ball then coming back off Eastwood and going just wide. That would have been cruel on our no.13 if it had passed the other side of his right-hand post.

There being no mid-week game is good as far as players being able to rest and perhaps shake off minor injuries is concerned but not from the perspective of supporters who live and breathe OUFC. The last performance always dictates mood which means there’s a whole week of brooding to look forward to.