EXETER CITY 2

FOREST GREEN 0

FOREST GREEN’S remain anchored in the bottom two after a second-half collapse at play-off chasing Exeter City.

The Grecians moved up to fourth with their sixth straight home victory as Rovers stumbled to back-to-back away defeats to remain one off the bottom and a point behind Chesterfield with 16 games to go.

Boss Mark Cooper made just the one change to the side that lost 1-0 to Carlisle United last Saturday, bringing in Dan Wishart in place of Reece Brown and reverting to a back three.

Rovers bossed the first-half, painted nice passing passages, but failed to find their range in front of goal and were stung after the break. Jayden Stockley opened the scoring with a neat finish on 51 minutes and six minutes later Pierce Sweeney scored from the spot after Dale Bennett had upended Kyle Edwards.

Forest Green's Haydn Hollis cleared off the line to deny Lloyd James a second Exeter goal.

Cooper felt his side dominated the first-half, he said: “We played really well, first-half, but we needed to convert that pressure into goals.

“We started second-half poorly and never really got back into the game.”

Cooper withdrew top scorer Christian Doidge with 25 minutes to go, but admitted he had one eye on this Saturday’s game against Coventry City.

“We were never going to win the game and I wanted to save him for Saturday,” he added.

With 10 signings completed in January, Rovers’ boss is hoping his fresh faces will hit the ground running.

He said: “The players that we have signed have got real quality and we need to integrate them quickly into the group.”