Forest Green Rovers head coach Ian Burchnall was happy to avoid a potential banana skin after seeing his side safely through to the second round of the FA Cup by beating South Shields on Saturday.
Connor Wickham scored in the first half before closing the game out with a strike from the halfway line in stoppage-time to end Kevin Phillips’ side’s dream Cup run.
The victory ended a run of three games without a win for Rovers and Burchnall was pleased with the professionalism and discipline shown by his side.
“Credit to them because firstly I thought the atmosphere was brilliant. Secondly, I thought they played brilliantly and gave us a hell of a game. That’s what the FA Cup is about,” said Burchnall.
“It’s always a tricky game when you go away in the FA Cup when it’s on TV. I think everybody smelt maybe there would be a banana skin, but we averted it and in the end it was a professional display.
“It was a professional job. I thought we had a lot of the ball and created good chances, but credit to South Shields. I thought they were the better team in the second half – they threw everything at us. We had to be really disciplined with our defensive work, and a wonderful goal finished it off.
“You can’t underestimate the game. They have a lot of experience in their team, an excellent coach and they play good football. They’re full-time here now and you can see there’s a great set-up.”
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Burchnall was also delighted with the overall performance of Wickham, a former finalist in the FA Cup with Crystal Palace, and revealed the plan the club has to get the striker back into the speed of first team football.
“I think the biggest thing for Connor is we’ve got him in a good place when it comes to training, he’s playing 90 minutes on a regular basis and he’s contributing enormously. He’s enjoying his football,” added Burchnall.
“It was a fantastic strike, but we know the quality Connor’s got – he’s top, top draw. I didn’t think he was going to do that. I thought he was going to kill the clock and go to the corner, but he’s got the quality to do that so why not.
“The header for the first goal is brilliant. It was a great move and delivery from Corey (O’Keeffe).
“Lewis Thomas in goal was very calm and stable. Ollie Casey came back into the team and defended the box brilliantly. Harvey Bunker showed a lot of maturity in midfield for a 19-year-old kid.”
With only three games scheduled for the month of November, Burchnall welcomed Jamille Matt playing an hour of the match on Saturday.
“Really good to have Jamille out there. He gives us a target and focal point for crosses, so I was happy to have him out leading the team,” said Burchnall.
“There’s only two league games in November so now it’s really important that we focus on that and give the best account of ourselves against Wycombe.”
Forest Green are ball number one in the draw for the second round, with BBC Two broadcasting it before Bracknell Town’s match against Ipswich Town.
