Five months after their season-opening encounter, Rovers square off against third-place Barnet on Tuesday night.
Before Tuesday night’s top-of-the-table matchup against Barnet, Forest Green Rovers manager Steve Cotterill thinks his team is extremely cohesive.
Cotterill is still on the hunt for players if they become available, but signing them requires careful consideration of a number of variables, particularly given the close-knit group of players.
Because we have such a great bunch here, we just need to make sure that everyone we bring in is not only a terrific player who can seriously threaten the first eleven, but also a good guy.
“I see the affection amongst them all; they are really close and genuinely interested in one another. The club is different now than it was when I first arrived, even if there was a lot going on without anything happening, if that makes sense.
After a 1-1 draw with Dagenham & Redbridge last week, Rovers lost the chance to get back to the top, but they will get another chance on Tuesday night. Both teams have a chance to win, although Forest Green would just need to win or draw if York wasn’t playing.
Didn’t we have that the other night? The other night, if you don’t score right away, you can suddenly take advantage of the opportunity, which is why you really need to make sure that everyone on your side is scoring goals.
“Any player can score a goal, as I have stated, and we have done that pretty well this season.”
Cotterill had planned to attend a game last weekend, but it was not feasible because most National League games were off.
“The staff were out at the weekend, a couple of us managed to see a game and a few didn’t, I was one of the ones that didn’t get to see a game meaning I had a Saturday off, but all that does is messes with your mind with the week going forward, it was alright and I didn’t do anything special.”
Dean Brennan’s side lost forward, Nicke Kabamba to Bromley in the week, but have since signed former Boreham Wood striker, Lee Ndlovu. On whether it could potentially change how they look at the game, Cotterill said: “No not really, they haven’t played for a while now.
“They didn’t play on Saturday and then before that they had a trophy game so there were quite a few changes in their team for that. Whether it will be the same team or not is irrelevant and not something we will worry about.
“The fact that they have gone and sold somebody means that somebody else is doing okay that they feel as though they can do that.
“He (Kabamba) is probably well-known to Bromley; they would have played against him for a couple of seasons.
“They have gone and brought another striker in, we are a little bit in the dark with regards to that one (Ndlovu) because we haven’t played against him before, but we would have been in the dark with Kabamba other than what we would have seen on the laptop. It happens throughout the year, it is part and parcel of football.”
At the beginning of the season, Barnet were the favourites to win the league and have always been in and around the top of the division this season.
“I don’t know about this, I am not a gambling man, but I know that they were mentioned as favourites at the beginning of the season and so far, they have lived up to it.
“They have been up there and played well throughout the season, as have York and Gateshead. There are a few games that we have got against good opposition, but we have got to focus on ourselves.”
The two sides last met back in August when the Bees ran out as the eventual winners after a last-minute goal from Zak Brunt. That defeat remains to be just one of two for Forest Green so far this season in the league, with the other coming against Oldham in September.
On the last meeting, Cotterill said: “We could have drawn the game, we didn’t deserve to win the game over there that night. We didn’t play particularly well and we have been better since then.
“We have just got to make sure that we play better than we did against them last time, it happens throughout the season. We are looking forward to the game, that is for sure.”
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