Forest Green Rovers V Chester FC MATCH THREAD

In fairness, no-one really expected a result against Lincoln or FGR but how many feel we are capable of getting a result  against Woking or Sutton and Boreham Wood - not many I suspect.

that's because everyone had buggered off before the end

Honestly didn't think you were that bad. We flew out of the blocks but you steadied yourselves and did in fact get forward, just lacked the final ball. I wasn't comfortable until we got our second. We're a much changed side from any you'll have seen but they've started to come together and most of the shots you did allow were down to good play from us rather than poor by you. Decent turn out too given the way things are running.

Thought we did ok today in terms of sticking to a clear game plan. Yes we definitely rode our luck however with a little better final ball we could have been in 3 or 4 times. I thought Durrell was excellent as was Akintunde when he came on.

At the end of the day Forest Green are a better side than us and it showed but we weren't disgraced.

We're a decent midtable team at this level not bad enough to go down and not good enough to challenge for the playoffs. My worry is I don't know how we bridge that gap

Not as suicidal as most after this. FGR weren't v good and perhaps if we had gone for it from the start, as we were positive in last 15 mins. we could have got something.
On player front I don't have any issues individually. The one who really stood out was Durrell. Always does on rare occasions that I watch us. Low centre of gravity, good feet, strong and relentless in his commitment. I liked the way he and Hughes argued for about 3 mins. Not sure what the issue was but showed they were concerned and up for it. Don't think fans need to be so despondent. We won't go down. Manager is committed and has kept us up. Another goalscorer along with Alabi and we will be top 6 next season.

top six? I should hope so if we go down, bottom six if we stay up

Just got home an hour ago and I'm just so disappointed. With 4 teams below us on 48 points, I'm afraid we are in it. Our game Vs Woking on Monday is probably the biggest of the season, it is VITAL we win it. Maybe we are on 52 points, but it doesn't seem enough right now.
For the game itself we did well to stick to the game plan. The wind was tough in the first half which lead to Forest Green playing good football. Durrell was our best player today. He committed well and his feet were magic. Hughes was solid as always and Lynch made a couple of good saves. Is it just me or does James Alabi look injured? The last few games he hasn't been into it enough and he isn't running onto long balls as much. Maybe he played because Richards was out. On a bright note, it was great to see Akintunde back. He looked very energetic and Davies looks like he could earn a contract. Before I dip into the negatives, i must mention the Forest Green fans. Maybe they are the Man City of our league, but they are a lovely bunch. Me and my dad really enjoyed chatting to a few of them and they even offered us a table. They also asked how the journey was etc. We could do with a few more kind fans like Forest Green.

Sadly we are sleep walking to a relegation battle. Our squad doesn't look fit enough and most of the teams below us are winning matches whilst we keep losing. Woking will be fighting for their lives on Monday and so will others, but our manager still goes on that we have achieved our targets. York, Braintree, Woking and Solihull are on 48, us on 52. If they keep on picking up results we are in massive trouble. How can we go from play-off contenders to staring at relegation? Goodness knows. I think we'll stay up, as our GD is -2 whereas the rest have -14, but if we want to stay up, we ALL have to back our team.

Finally, it's sad to see a local team in Southport drop down today. I hope they come back up, but they won't find it easy. Hopefully it won't be us joining them, keep the faith!

I like McCarthy as a person but he didn't even applaud us at the end and he hugged Elliott Durrell instead.

He shud of hugged u rio,u did well going there today, did u enjoy ur veggie burger

I thought we were actually well set up today overall to counter FGR building from the back, matching their formation, and having Durrell and Alabi wide broke down a lot of their attacks before they began. We were vulnerable allowing them to intrude through the middle. Elliott Durrell ran his heart out, created a lot, much better up front than Richards. We kept giving possession away far too cheaply in the final third which is why our first shot didn't come until the 88th minute when Durrell was a whisker over. Lynch made a wonderful save early doors as well as closing out a couple of dangerous one on ones. I think tactically, it wasn't bad, and the lads put in a shift, we were simply outclassed by an expensive group of players.

Spot on, no one expected results from the last two games but what about York and Eastleigh at home, poor opposition we literally rolled over against, as well as the other games we have jibbed off since Christmas like Solihull, Maidstone, etc.

Mccarthy is banging on about how good we was between September and November and how the lads deserve contracts, bit tiresome that now considering we have 3 games to go and we won 4 in 20 games. I don't see Leicester saying we won the league last year so don't slag us off everyone.

Yes, I've noticed this. It means that Iwelumo's position as assistant manager goes beyond being ineffective and actually becomes detrimental if we have to take our most combative and experienced midfielder out of the team to compensate for his absence.

Whatever happens over the next couple of weeks, this situation must be addressed in the summer. It's not Chris's fault the club have given him a job he can't fully commit to, but the situation is unacceptable. Macca's choice of Iwelumo as assistant was possibly the first and most significant of several errors of judgment he's made since December.

FGR are a tinpot club with a rich owner. We shouldn't judge ourselves by results against the likes of them. They'll go bust eventually.

Monday's result is far more significant. We need to see a marked improvement and some shred of evidence that this manager and these players are good enough for next season.

Sheer effort kept the score down today. Some courageous last ditch blocks and tackles, and a few quality saves from Lynch, but that was a long 90 minutes! Literally within the first minute FGR hit the post and had a shot blocked on (possibly over?) the line, and that pretty much set the tone.

I wish we'd just play a back four of Hunt, Hughes, Astles and Vassell. All four started today, but not as a back four, and Theo looked understandably awkward playing as the leftmost of three centre halves. I feel sorry for Joyce - an honest, hardworking player but sadly out of his depth, and Alabi looks injured or exhausted. For all people go on about Joyce, Richards, Hudson etc, the one player I'll really groan over if he's still here next season is Luke George. He does so little. I could forgive the fact that he's always injured and getting himself into stupid disciplinary problems if he did something on the pitch now and again other than watch the ball get knocked about a make a hash of five-yard passes. For me, the club have shown him more patience and support than he deserves and I don't see any argument at all in favour of renewing his contract.

Positives were a good showing from Durrell up front, Hughes continuing to look a player who can go on to big things, Lynch making some good saves and having no chance with the goals, and the general hard work levels of the team even though they seem to be running on empty.

It's easy to criticise the decision to give Macca a contract extension, but few did at the time. I have to admit that though the situation with McCarthy is starting to remind me of that Simpsons episode where Mr. Burns says words to the effect of "I'm beginning to think Homer Simpson is not quite the genius we once thought he was" while Homer spins around on the floor making whooping noises. I like the guy and want him to do well, but there's no doubt that he's managed the second half of the season poorly, and I don't like the way he's talking in the media. He seems to be implying today that the team were booed off, which wasn't true at all. There were one or two dissenting voices at the end, but a good number stayed to applaud the team's efforts - a gesture not returned by the manager.