FIVE wins from the last five matches, nine goals scored in two games, second in the National League and yet Forest Green manager Mark Cooper was not entirely happy.

Taskmaster Cooper insisted his side could do better after their emphatic 5-1 win over Southport on Bank Holiday Monday.

He said: “I wasn’t particularly pleased with the performance today. I thought we were a bit sloppy. “We started brilliantly and raced into a two-goal lead and looked electrifying at times, but once you go 2-0 up something happens, you start to be a little bit safer and try and guard your lead and if they get one back it becomes a difficult afternoon and that’s what happened until the last 15 minutes.”

Cooper admitted he used all his managerial acumen to get his side back-on-track when Southport pulled a goal back after the break.

He revealed: “That was the hardest Scott Lindsey and myself have had to work in terms of trying to regain some control in the game by making the changes that we did. I said to the players I need them to take a little bit of leadership.

“You have to strive to be better all the time and it could have easily been 2-2 and that would have been a travesty.”

And Cooper defended the raft of changes he made after a super 4-1 victory at Maidstone on Saturday.

“Kieffer has come in and played really well and scored a couple of goals and Elliott’s pace has given as a lift and Cloughie has come in. We have made changes and they have worked - planned it properly and won the game.”

Despite giving his side the football hairdryer, Cooper is more than happy with Rovers’ start.

“If you had given me 10 points after five games, or 10 points for every five games this season, I would take it, because I don’t think you would be too far away if you had two points per game.”

Cooper’s blueprint is total football, but he is flexible enough to know at times you have to turn a different corner.

“You can talk about philosophy, projects and styles of play, but at the end of the day you have got to win,” he said. “I don’t mind going and getting horrible 1-0 wins, yes, we want to play football, but it’s not possible all the time as there is another team on the pitch that have a say in that.”

Rovers travel to Chester City on Saturday. Marcus Kelly has returned to training following his calf strain and could come into contention.