Forest Green claimed a 2-1 victory over Carlisle on Tuesday night and moved level on points with league leaders Cambridge United in the process.

Rovers took the lead on the hour mark after Nicky Cadden was brought down in the Carlisle box and Aaron Collins calmly put away the resulting penalty.

On 72 minutes, the hosts levelled the contest as a well worked cross found Gime Touré who tapped into an empty net from close range.

However, just three minutes later, a superb Odin Bailey free kick into the top left corner of Paul Farman’s goal saw the Gloucestershire side make the long trip home with a valuable three points.

Forest Green boss Mark Cooper praised his side’s desire to claim victory over a tough opponent, as he told BBC Radio Gloucestershire: “It’s not our best performance but I thought we were really determined, I thought we were gritty, played some good stuff at times and probably deserved to win.”

The win leaves Rovers with a total of 45 points in League Two and are denied the top spot only by goal difference.

Despite this, Cooper isn’t getting carried away by the league position at this stage of the season and believes other teams will share his opinion.

“I wouldn’t think that many teams would be looking at it like that because there’s so much football to play,” he added.

“There’s so much football to be played that I don’t think teams will be getting too worn down about where they are in the table right now.”

Bailey once again shone for Forest Green and his free kick proved vital in claiming the victory.

Cooper praised the 21-year-old’s professionalism after he was substituted on and off again against Cheltenham Town on Saturday.

He said: “I thought he was really good tonight.

“It was very frustrating for him on Saturday and he was really upset. I had to speak to him because obviously he came on the pitch as a substitute and got brought off after we went down to 10 men so, it’s a difficult one to take but he’s been really professional in the past few days.

“He can be proud of his performance tonight.”

Jamille Matt missed the game through injury but Cooper is hoping that he may be able to return for the trip to Mansfield on Saturday.

“We’re hopeful,” he said. “He took a whack on the knee on Saturday.”

With Matt missing through injury, Josh Davison was granted his first full debut since arriving on loan from Charlton Athletic last month and Cooper was impressed by his performance.

He said: “I thought Josh Davison was outstanding.

“I thought he led the line brilliantly, worked really hard, competed with two really big centre backs and it was a great full debut for him.”

Rovers next face a trip to 14th placed Mansfield Town on Saturday afternoon.