FOREST GREEN boss Mark Cooper says his side's  2-0 victory over Mansfield Town was a "big" three points in their hopes to avoid a relegation scrap towards the end of the season.

Rovers are now nine points above the bottom two with just seven games to play after putting a dent in Mansfield's promotion hopes.

“ It was good that we responded from a poor performance the other night at Crewe and it was important we bounced back and we did it and we looked really organised and worked hard,” said Cooper.

“We looked really professional and not in any real trouble, a really big three points for us today.”

Reuben Reid opened the scoring after 55 minutes with his 13th goal of the season before Dayle Grubb sealed the victory with  12 minutes to play, fizzing home his 21st goal of the season and his fourth since his January move from Weston.

Cooper added: “It was a great performance, great result and much needed. I think it settles everybody down a bit and I was really pleased with the effort of the squad,

“People forget our home form is really good. We lost to Notts County last time here but other than that we’ve won four or five-straight games and that’s another one. We always fancy our chance of getting a result and we have to compete and fight against a really physical side with a lot of quality.”

Although his side were under pressure towards the end of the first-half, Cooper was pleased with the hard-fought second period.

“The message at half-time was to keep switching the ball and getting our midfielders wide so we could manoeuvre the ball into Reuben Reid and Tahv Campbell. And that’s where most of the opportunities came from,” he explained.

“It’s difficult to make sure you play open, attractive, free-flowing football so sometimes it has to be the last 20 minutes when you’ve done the hard work that you get to create chances.

“It’s key that we show our teeth and show we can compete against the really big clubs in this league,” stated Cooper.

“Today is the first time that we’ve beaten a top three or four side and it should give us confidence going into the last seven games.

“At this point in the season bit teams are chasing points for different reason, they’re chasing promotion and we’re trying to stay in the Football League in our maiden season.”

Watch Mark Cooper's post-match video