Forest Green Rovers boss David Horseman insisted “there was nothing in the game” after his side’s 3-0 home defeat by Bradford City on Tuesday night.
Rovers are now four games without a win in the league, with two losses and two draws making up those games.
The Bantams took the lead in the ninth minute after a goal from Matthew Platt. The goal came from a corner, which was headed back across goal by Ash Taylor, which Platt nodded home to put the West Yorkshire side ahead.
The visitors then doubled their lead in the 21st minute after Andy Cook was brought down by Jordan Moore-Taylor in the box. Cook stepped up and slotted the ball past James Belshaw.
Bradford were not quite done though; a third goal in the second half from Jamie Walker secured the three points for the visitors after a blocked shot by Dom Bernard bounced into the path of the Bantams’ midfielder.
Despite the game already being theoretically over, the Bantams had a red card in the 90th minute after Taylor denied Olly Sully a scoring opportunity just outside of the box.
On the goals conceded, Horseman said: “The goals are so poor that you do not give yourself any chance, and then at the other end, we are not clinical at all, and again, it is not about an individual unit; it is about attackers not doing their job in our box, and there are defenders not tapping them in the other box. So collectively, it is a lack of quality at the moment.”
The Rovers did actually have zero shots on target in the first half and only two in the second half. Regardless, the game seemed pretty much over after 20 minutes when Bradford rushed into a 2-0 lead at the time.
Tuesday’s result will undoubtedly do the team’s confidence no good. On the morale of the group, Horseman said: “That has been the story of our season; we showed little glimpses. Most of the performance was good, but we did not win on Saturday.
“All of a sudden you come to today and we do not score a lot of goals. You have got Troy Deeney, who is an excellent player, had a brilliant career, and is doing really well for the team, but Ty (Tyrese Omotoye) has got four goals in 56 games, and then the next one that we have available at the moment is a 17-year-old.”
The Rovers boss did praise the West Yorkshire side; he said: “I thought they were physically really strong and have some good players for the level, but I do not think there is anything in the game; I do not honestly, and then you look at the chances across the 90 minutes.
“We go around the goalkeeper and miss an open goal; we have a tap-in from two yards that Bunks (Harvey Bunker) should just flick into the goal, and he goes to kick it, and it goes the wrong way, and then Jordy (Jordan Moore-Taylor) has one from six yards.”
Ryan Inniss was sent on at halftime, replacing Charlie McCann. On the switch, the Rovers boss said: “We played Ryan longer than we should, so we will have to see how he settles down, but these boys are going to have to dig in and play; we have no choice because we have nobody else so Ryan hopefully will not react poorly tomorrow when we are in.
“Callum Morton is back for Saturday; he is going to have to play. Callum makes a big difference to the team.”
Of course, the overall performance was definitely not desired by the Rovers’ supporters. Horseman issued an apology, saying: “A massive apology to the supporters because it is obviously not good enough, and particularly the manner of the goals that we concede are such poor goals, you give yourself no chance in the game.”
The result does, of course, leave Forest Green in the relegation zone; they are also three points away from safety after Tranmere’s 2-2 draw with Mansfield.
Forest Green’s next game is away to Blackpool in the FA Cup second round, which will undoubtedly be a tough visit after this evening’s performance.
It does also still mean that Forest Green have only ever beaten Bradford once in the league, with that one win happening four years ago.
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