Forest Green suffered only their second home league defeat of the season as they lost 2-1 to Crawley Town.

After the game boss Mark Cooper admitted he probably should have made more than one change from Boxing Day's draw with Exeter.

“I probably should have changed the team from Saturday and freshened it up so I’ll take the blame for the result,” he said speaking to BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

“I got it wrong in terms of the selection.”

Cooper acknowledged that Crawley were a dangerous side and that they deserved to travel back to West Sussex with all three points.

He said: “The best team won and deserved to win the game so credit to Crawley, they were better than us.

“If you don’t match the other team’s effort and commitment then you get beat in this league.”

With there being difficult conditions prior to the match and snowfall over parts of Gloucestershire, the game looked in doubt but the hard work of the groundstaff meant Rovers could play on and Cooper was quick to thank the dedicated work force.

“I want to thank the people that helped clear the snow off the pitch today to get the game on,” he added.

“But as I feel like I do now, I wish they hadn’t of bothered.”

January is just around the corner and the Rovers boss was able to shed some light on any potential incomings or outgoings that may take place in the transfer window.

He said: “Everybody knows that we’ve got issues with players going out and bids so we need to resolve that.

“The only reason we will need players is if players go out.

“I think sometimes it’s good to bring one or two in just to freshen things up.

“We might lose Odin (Bailey) and there’s three or four that need to go and play elsewhere.

“The (Liam) Kitching thing will come to a conclusion naturally and we’ll have to replace him.

Odin Bailey’s loan from Birmingham is up in January and Cooper admitted he is unsure whether the talented youngster will remain at the club.

“We don’t know (if he’ll stay),” he said.

“They want him to play in League One and we’ve not heard anything else.”

Forest Green end the year in second place in the League Two rankings, just one point behind leaders Newport County.

Cooper’s side next host Oldham Athletic on Saturday at the Innocent New Lawn.