Forest Green Rovers manager Mark Cooper says his side need to be wary of a ‘wounded animal’ ahead of their trip to Harrogate Town this weekend.
Rovers come into the game off the back of a 1-1 draw with table-toppers Newport County, and are sitting fourth in the division, one point off of the automatic promotion places.
Cooper will be glad that his side are back on the road this weekend as they have the second best away record in League Two this season with 14 points from eight games.
Harrogate, who were promoted to the Football League last season for the first time in their history, are currently 15th in the table, but have lost their last two games by an aggregate score of 9-2, and Cooper is expecting a big response from the Sulphurites.
Cooper said: “When you’ve been beaten heavily in two consecutive games your pride is dented and hurt and you don’t want it to happen again.
“It’ll be a difficult game because wounded animals – you have to be careful of them.
“We can’t just turn up and expect to win any game at this level.”
Cooper’s opposite number on Saturday is somebody he knows well. Harrogate are managed by Simon Weaver, someone who Cooper managed at Tamworth in his first managerial job 14 years ago.
Weaver played as a centre-back for The Lambs under Cooper, and the Forest Green manager is not surprised to see him excelling in management.
“Simon played for me in my first job as a manager. He was a good pro. Solid centre-half, a real character. He’s been a manager for a long time now, so it’ll be good to see him.
“He’s very intelligent and he’s had time to build which is so important at a football club, and you can see the benefits of that. He’s building a really good football club.”
Forest Green defender Liam Kitching enjoyed two loan spells at Harrogate during his time at Leeds United. The 21-year-old played a big part in their promotion for the National League North in 2018, and is looking forward to returning to Wetherby Road.
Kitching said: “Of course I’m looking forward to it, but I’m at Forest Green now and I really want to win.
“It’ll be nice to see a few familiar faces, I’ve got lots of respect for Harrogate. I was there for 18 months as a young lad and they took me under their wing and made me the player I am today.”
The game will also see up to 500 Harrogate fans in attendance for the first time since the beginning of March. Just like Gloucestershire, Harrogate are in a tier two area, meaning that limited supporters can attend their home games.
Kitching is hoping for a welcoming reception on Saturday from the fans that used to cheer him on.
“Hopefully a good one!”, replied Kitching when asked what sort of reception he’s expecting.
“It was really good time in my career and one I won’t forget, so I’m sure it’ll be a welcoming reception.”
