Forest Green’s rearranged fixture against Oldham Athletic certainly didn’t disappoint as Rovers came out 4-3 victors in an exhilarating contest on Tuesday night, writes Sam Wiles.

Two first half debut goals from Baily Cargill were cancelled out by the 54th minute as Bobby Grant and Conor McAleny scored either side of half time for the visitors.

On the hour mark, second half substitute Jamille Matt found himself back on the score sheet once more but just three minutes later McAleny struck again to level the game to 3-3.

However, it was a game of firsts as fellow new boy Josh Davison also opened his goal scoring account for Rovers on 67 minutes – a goal which proved decisive in claiming a hard fought three points.

Forest Green boss Mark Cooper admitted that, despite the entertaining score line, he was not able to revel in the match.

He said: “From a coaching point of view, I didn’t enjoy it at all.

“There was far too much work to do but sometimes it happens in a 46-game season, sometimes logic goes out the window.

“We have to look at it as a one off, yes there’s some stuff we need to brush up on but I thought the players commitment and drive to keep going and keep hunting for three points was fantastic.”

With Matt scoring the sixth of the night and fellow substitute Isaac Hutchinson assisting for the seventh and final goal, Cooper’s changes proved to be an inspired choice.

“It was a difficult game to read in terms of what substitutions to make,” he added.

“We weren’t controlled enough in our play so; we were looking at trying to get players on there who would give us some control. Isaac (Hutchinson) came on and did pretty well and I felt with Jammer (Jamille Matt) we needed his physical presence because the ball was coming back too easy.”

It had been two weeks since Forest Green’s last game when they overcame fellow promotion hopefuls Carlisle United and Cooper conceded it was a challenging break.

He said: “I think that’s twice now that we’ve not played for two weeks and we’ve come back rusty and we’ve had a difficult time trying to get somewhere to train with the weather.

“We’ve had to train on 3G which is a totally different surface to the grass.

“It was a challenging couple of weeks so to come out and get the three points is a bonus.”

Jordan Moore-Taylor was absent from the match day squad but Cooper was able to shine some light on the matter.

He said: “He’s injured.

“He’s had a little bit of an ongoing knee issue over the last couple of months.

“He played at Carlisle and was outstanding and over the two weeks break his knee has not really got much better.

“He’s had a scan and there’s a little bit of work in there that needs doing at the end of the season but he’s going to have an injection and we’re going to manage it. Hopefully he’ll be fit for our next game. “

Forest Green next travel to fifth placed Newport County on Saturday afternoon.