FOREST Green Rovers manager Mark Cooper will come up against his old club on Friday night knowing it is crucial for the side to get the winning habit again.

Cooper’s team have taken three League Two points only once from eight matches this season when beating Yeovil Town 4-3 a month ago.

But they ended a troubling spell of four defeats on Saturday when drawing 1-1 at bottom side Port Vale.

And now comes the clash Cooper talked about a lot after Forest Green secured promotion to the Football League back in May – a home game against Swindon Town.

The Forest Green boss managed Swindon for two years between 2013 and 2015 but stayed tight-lipped about the meeting tomorrow after his side’s draw at Vale Park on Saturday.

He will make his feelings known today but, currently placed level with Chesterfield in the table, who are in the first relegation place, it is crucial that Forest Green secure victory over eighth-placed Swindon in front of TV cameras to climb the table.

Cooper is hopeful that the result against bottom side Port Vale can draw a line under the run of defeats. Super sub Omar Bugiel grabbed the goal that earned Forest Green a point.

It is still early days for the manager to concern himself about the league position. Cooper said: “I don’t think you get a true reflection of the table until fifteen or so games.

“This is a start, but we have to maintain that commitment we showed in the Lincoln game (a 1-0 home loss).

“We need to stop making silly mistakes and we will be fine.

“We won’t steer too far away from our principles, but we are trying to play the best way to win a game.”

However, tomorrow’s match will start a tough week with a trip to seventh-placed Cambridge United on Tuesday and a home tie with third-placed Accrington Stanley a week on Saturday.

As for the draw at Vale Park, Cooper added: “We possibly could have won at the end, but there wasn’t a lot in the game first-half.

“A silly mistake again from our defenders and we found ourselves 1-0 down, so I decided to change it drastically at half-time, which gave us a bit of impetus and we were on the front-foot for the whole of the second-half, and with a little bit more care, we could have won the game.”