Substitutes made the difference in win over Forest Green

Paul Tisdale said there was no sense of gambling at Forest Green despite throwing on two strikers late in the day at The New Lawn on Saturday.
Tisdale's ReactionTisdale's Reaction
Tisdale's Reaction

With the game finely poised at 1-1 after George Williams' 62nd minute equaliser, Tisdale withdrew David Wheeler, Ryan Harley and Jordan Houghton in favour of Chuks Aneke, Robbie Simpson and Ouss Cisse as he sought a late winner - and it came in the 86th minute in the form of Russell Martin's late strike to send his side in second.

"On the spectrum of playing safe and gambling, I don't think it was quite and out-and-out gamble." Tisdale said. "There is a point in a game when you have to speculate, and it was a toss up. It was a decision we made, but I trust the players to know what they are doing. A gamble would be something we hadn't done before. I think there was enough structure and consideration, so well done to the players.

"It's a frequent trend at the moment, games like this. We edged the first half, we were deserving of it,. In the second half, Rovers changed and it it affected our pattern and it put us on our heels at bit. But you have to expect that, they had the right to change. It's a shame they scored the way they did, but it was 1-1 with 25 minutes to go. But with Chuks and Robbie Simpson we thought we'd go for it.

"Sometimes we win, others lose, but we won't be too up or down. There are six games to go with plenty of action to go."

Kieran Agard opened the scoring in the first half, but it came with an element of luck when Gavin Gunning was dispossessed by Wheeler in a dangerous position, allowing Agard to roll home his 21st of the season.

Tisdale added: "We got a bit lucky on that, but it takes all sorts. But the winner looked like a bit of a shamozzle, but we will trace through it and there were enough players doing the right things. It might look an untidy goal, but there was enough going on to get the ball in there."