IRKED Forest Green boss Mark Cooper admitted former England and Arsenal legend Tony Adams would have probably headed more balls clear than his central defenders.

A matchday guest of Forest Green celebrity supporter Jilly Cooper, the doyenne of the posh bonkbuster, Adams still cuts an athletic figure at the age of 52, and how Cooper could have done with Adams’ no-nonsense defending to thwart Cheltenham Town’s former Premier League striker Luke Varnery, who gave Farrend Rawson and Nathan McGinley an uncomfortable afternoon.

Rovers had a Joseph Mills header to spare their blushes as his goal with 15 minutes to go, cancelled out Tyrone Barnett’s first-half opener, after goalkeeper Robert Sanchez gave a penalty away for a trip on the Robins’ forward – Sanchez’s third foul in his territory this season. The Brighton loanee made brief amends, saving Varney’s spot kick, but Barnett reacted the quickest to fizz in the free ball.

Cooper said: “We could have done with him (Tony Adams) in the first-half, I’m sure he would have headed a couple of balls for us.”

Cooper was unhappy with his side’s application before and after the goal in a below-par opening 45 minutes showing from a team beaten just once this season.

He added: “They’ve not had to work to score the goal, but once the goalkeeper saves it, their centre-forward runs from 10 yards behind our defenders and taps it in.

“Our defenders were asleep, and it was a really poor situation to give the penalty away and poor defending once the goalie saves it.

“Then, it’s an uphill battle for us because it gives Cheltenham all the energy and they sit behind the ball and wait for us to make mistakes.”

An abject first-half for Rovers was countered with a huge improvement after the break. Cooper turning to his bench and ushering on Gavin Gunning, Reece Brown and Tahvon Campbell.

“The first half was wasted," he said. “We tried to pick a team that was full of energy with three sharp forwards and three lads in midfield that can all run.

“We got sucked into the trap of getting the ball forward too quickly and not recognising where the space was, which was in behind them.

“I’ve said to the players 'if you’re playing top of your game every week, you’re not getting left out or dropped, but if you’ve had three or four games, you have to come out of the team, because I think we’ve got some good players and that’s what we did today, because we needed to freshen things up as we have drawn too many games, but no-one really took their chance today that started.”

With Reuben Reid missing due to a knock, Cooper defended his decision to go without a recognised striker up front, opting for a front three of wide players Dayle Grubb, George Williams and Theo Archibald.

He explained: “Because Tav (Campbell) hasn’t done well enough in the games he’s played, simple as that.

"Dayle Grubb played really well at Northampton last week, George Williams is a current Welsh international and Theo Archibald has played in the Championship and been patiently waiting for his chance, so that was the reason why.

“We freshened it up because we’ve drawn too many games, I wanted us to try and get some more goals.

“No-one really took their chance today that started.”

Cooper felt his side would always get back into the game.

He said: "Once we scored I thought we would go on and win and we had enough opportunites to produce a moment that leads to a goal."

Rovers face former non-league rivals Tranmere Rovers at home on Tuesday night and boss Cooper is relishing the opportunity of taking on the sixth-placed side, who have started their first season back in league football with aplomb.

“The beauty of it is we’ve got a chance to try and win a game straight away,” Cooper said.

“But it is a very tough league, let’s not forget that.”