Forest Green Rovers boss Mark Cooper wants his side to adapt in order to cope with Newport County’s pitch conditions and their recent new style of play.
Newport County host Forest Green Rovers on Sunday for their League Two clash, a game which was meant to be played on Saturday. Welsh Rugby Union side Dragons Rugby use the same pitch as County, and will be playing at Rodney Parade on Friday evening, with the pitch expected to be in a very poor condition ahead of the League Two clash.
“We’ve got to be flexible, adaptable. I Just feel sorry for Newport because some of the football they played at the start of the season was outstanding,” said Cooper.
The Rovers manager added: “from going from a team who are really direct, to playing really total control football in the years they’ve done so takes some doing-it’s a shame their pitch has put a stop to that, but it’s our job to go there and win.”
However, despite the expected poor conditions, the 52-year-old expects his side to have no excuses.
“What we are not going to do is blame the pitch and say this and that,” said Cooper.
He added, “we have to play on that pitch, it doesn’t matter whether we have to play in the car park or on the side of a hill, we have to play that game, so we need to adapt.”
The away side will be full of confidence going into Sunday’s fixture, with Rovers taking 10 points from a possible 12. Newport, however, have only won once in their last five matches.
Cooper believes his side’s winning mentality has helped them massively get through games.
“It’s just finding a way to win a game; however you do that. We’ve done it quite well at parts of the season, we’ve found different ways to win. Whether it’s tight games or open games, we’ve found a way to win and we’ll try to do so against a very tough team,” said Cooper.
Check out ParkLife Sport’s LIVE blog for the latest sporting news.
The away side will be without Dan Sweeney following his injury suffered in the 4-3 win over Oldam on Tuesday night, but defender Jordan Moore-Taylor returns to full fitness.
“Dan’s strained his medium knee ligament when he made a tackle, so he’ll be out for a few weeks. But we’ve got Jordan Moore-Taylor back which is a massive plus for us.
Kick off starts at 1pm with Newport going into the match in fifth place, against Rovers who are currently second.
