"Probably our worst performance," said candid Forest Green head coach Mark Cooper as he described his side's 4-1 victory at Scunthorpe United.

Cooper bemoaned the opening exchanges as Rovers went down to an early goal.

He told BBC Radio Gloucestershire: "Probably, our worst performance in a way  and you could tell we travelled on the day. The first 15 minutes, it looked like we were still on the motorway, but we dug in and the boys were fantastic again and recovered from the goal.

“That was a short, sharp shock to the system and from then on we started to play a little bit.

“We’ve got plenty of work to do and keep improving.”

New man Jamille Matt bagged his first hat-trick for Rovers as he put on a fine display against The Iron, but Cooper admitted that it’s not just goals that Matt has in his locker.

He said: “I don’t really judge Jamille on his goals because he’s a target man first and foremost and the focal point of the attack so he brings so much more than goals.

“He’s been a bit frustrated because he’s not scored what he thinks he should’ve but his performances have been brilliant.

“I hope he enjoys his night; he deserves it.”

Forest Green’s captain Carl Winchester once again shined for Rovers and his displays certainly haven’t gone unnoticed by his manager.

“He’s a top player, isn’t he,” said Cooper. “At our level he’s a top player.”

Forest Green have been fortunate so far this season in that they don’t have many injury concerns. As it stands, only Kane Wilson is sidelined due to injury and Cooper believes this is no coincidence.

He said: “We put that down to our condition and our medical side.

“We really think long and hard about how we train and how we need to rest and recover.

“We put a lot of work into that and I think you see the fruits of us having nearly a clean bit of health.”

Rovers have been fairly active in this transfer window, but when asked if he and his side were going to have a quiet deadline day on Friday, he said: “Yeah, unless anyone bids big for one of our players.”

The win sees Rovers move up to sixth place in League Two as they next host Stevenage at home.

MATCH REPORT: Matt hat-trick puts Rovers in the driving seat

GALLERY: All the action from yesterday's game