NEW Forest Green Rovers midfielder Ben Liddle says having familiar faces played a part in his decision to join Rovers.

Liddle arrived at the New Lawn from Middlesbrough on transfer deadline in a loan deal until the end of the season.

The 20-year-old has played alongside Rovers stars Nathan McGinley and Junior Mondal during his time with Boro and revealed the Rovers defender was the first person he contacted after finding out about Forest Green's interest.

"When I got the call off my agent I rang Nathan McGinley ten minutes later and he said nothing but good things about the club," Liddle said.

"I'm really good friends with Nathan, we went on holiday the summer before that so it's helped having him here.

"I know Junior Mondal from when he was at Middlesbrough as well so it's good to have some familiar faces around."

The move was only completed within the last hour of the transfer window but the midfielder.

Liddle is looking forward to playing senior football and was pleased to get the deal done after a frantic deadline day.

"I got a phone call around nine o'clock saying there was interest from Forest Green so I had to race down," he said.

"My dad raced me down and I got all the papers signed about 10.15 so it was all a bit last minute.

"I Can't wait to get going.

"Under 23s football is good to a certain point but when you get to my age, I need to get into men's football and play in the football league which will only do me good.

The midfielder was poised to make his senior debut for Middlesbrough at the start of the season but an unfortunate injury delayed that.

"In the first round of Carabao Cup I was potentially going to start but I was definitely going to be involved," he explained.

"I had concussion though so I missed out by a day or two.

"I was hoping to play in that and get a move at the end of August but it wasn't meant to be but I'm here now so that's the main thing."

Liddle also revealed manager Mark Cooper is a familiar face and is an admirer of the Rovers manager's style of play.

His dad Craig, a former Boro defender, was academy manager at Darlington while Mark Cooper was there and Liddle feels he is well suited to the way Cooper likes to play.

"I know the gaffer from his time at Darlington when my dad was academy manager there," said Liddle.

"I know he likes to play football which suites me down to the ground because I like to get on the ball and play so that was also a big factor.

"I like to pass it as much as I can. I'm technically quite sound so I like to play forward and makes things happen. "

Liddle is now focused on Forest Green and is keen to help the club achieve promotion to League One.

"I think it's tight up the top, we've got a great chance," he added.

"If we can get a run of wins and hopefully get in the automatic promotion places."