Margate rocked by two-touch Rovers (From Stroud News and Journal)

Margate rocked by two-touch Rovers

Forest Green 4, Margate 1 FOREST Green banished any fears of relegation from the Nationwide Conference after this decisive win over Margate on Saturday to record their sixth home win in a row and move two places up the table.

Margate had arrived at the Lawn one place above Rovers in the table on the back of a run of five games unbeaten themselves, but once they fell behind to a slightly unlucky own goal they never looked like extending that sequence as Rovers dominated in all departments.

From goalkeeper Steve Perrin, who was only extended on two or three occasions in the entire 90 minutes to strikers Paul Grayson and Kayode Odejayi, who both got on the scoresheet with their 11th and 12th goals of the season respectively, Rovers held the edge.

And, if anything, the most impressive aspect of their play was the tenacity of their tackling. Defenders Darren Jones, Jon Richardson and Kevin Langan were just about foot perfect, while midfielders Martin Foster and Gary Owers harried their Margate counterparts to distraction and in attack Alex Meechan's unselfish running earned him the man-of-the-match award for the first time this season.

They enjoyed the considerable good fortune of an ideal start when from the first corner of the game in the sixth minute, Foster curled the flag-kick in towards the near post and under pressure from Grayson, Margate defender Bill Edwards headed neatly past his own keeper Phil Smith.

Rovers enjoyed one real let-off in the 21st minute when defender Steve Jenkins twice miscued in attempting to clear only succeeding in presenting Margate striker Phil Collins with a clear shooting chance but his effort was deflected and Perrin scrambled along his line to divert the ball round the upright.

Two minutes later Odejayi almost snatched a second goal as he robbed a defender as he chested down a cross from Jones to send in a wicked dipping shot that Smith did well to tip over the bar and the keeper also held a Grayson header from Meechan's cross, but then with 36 minutes gone Rovers made it 2-0 with another two-touch special.

Caught offside just inside the Rovers half, Margate failed to deal with a high free-kick from Jones and with Smith way off his line, Grayson moved in to loop a perfectly judged header over the keeper and under the bar from fully 15 yards.

Two minutes later Perrin did well to race out and block a shot from Jean Michel Sigere who had slipped the leash, but in the fifth minute of stoppage time Rovers added a third goal, even simpler in origin than the first two.

This time Grayson went to take a right flank throw-in hurled it high and long towards Odejayi and he resisted a strong challenge to flick an angled header neatly over Smith and inside an unguarded far post for the perfect end to a near flawless first half from Rovers' viewpoint.

By comparison, the second half fell away in terms of incident, with Margate striving unsuccessfully to find a way back into contention, while Rovers were largely content to close the game down and take as few risks as possible.

Perrin again did well to tip over a firm header from Simon Beard, but then with 68 minutes gone Rovers emerged from their shell to score their fourth and best goal of the game.

Meechan did the spadework, chasing a ball down the right to cut back inside and deliver a deceptive low cross that allowed Odejayi to cleverly dummy the Margate defence allowing the ball to run through to Foster who side-footed accurately past Smith into the corner of the net.

Both sides made changes in the last 20 minutes, with Rovers allowing Margate to come at them and eventually grab an 83rd minute consolation goal when Beard buried a close-range header after Richardson's clearance was crossed back into the six-yard box.

However, by then the contest was over and it hardly detracted from a thoroughly positive and productive display. Forest Green: Perrin, Russell, Jenkins, Langan (74, Cowe), Richardson, Jones, Foster, Owers, Meechan, Grayson (74, Cleverley), Odejayi (84, Sykes). Subs (not used): L Russell, Glassup.

Margate: Smith, Oates, Clarke, Edwards, Porter, Sodje ( 54, Leberl), McFlynn (66, Braithwaite), Beard, Saunders, Sigere, Collins (73, Keister). Subs (not used): Lamb, Mitten. Referee: Steve Brand (Liverpool). Attendance: 763