EFL League Two
The New Lawn, Nailsworth
Admission: £18.00
Programme : £3.00
Attendance: 3,136
When Great Western Railway offered tickets for just £5 each way from Gatwick Airport to Stroud in their January sale, I decided to take advantage, choosing this fixture to tick off my penultimate ground in the EFL.
I had previously visited Forest Green Rovers' former stadium, The Lawn, back in 2002, when I watched a memorable 4-4 draw with Barnet in what was then the Conference. The club relocated just a few hundred yards away along the same road to the New Lawn in 2006, with a couple of stands transferred brick by brick between the grounds. A trip to Forest Green Rovers is certainly a unique experience in terms of visiting EFL grounds, and to reach The New Lawn, it is necessary to catch a bus for a half hour journey southwards through the scenic Cotswolds landscape, through the closest small market town of Nailsworth, and from there, the bus continues up a very steep and rather narrow hill for about a mile, reaching the ground as the residential area morphs into countryside, with the road turning into a single track road. Just over the road from the ground is a small park area with spectacular views towards Stroud. On approaching the ground itself, the ticket office is located outside one corner of the ground, with the club shop housed in a small container unit. The surrounding walls are brightly decorated, and a couple of boards provide plenty of information about the eco-friendly initiatives undertaken by the club since Ecotricity owner Dale Vince took over the club's chairmanship in 2010. The club is also extremely proud that only vegan food and drink has been available to all visitors and staff since 2015, and the club was confirmed in 2017 as the world's first vegan club. A bright, long and relatively spacious bar is available to home fans only, located in the main stand, with a hot vegan food can be obtained from a serving hatch, whilst visiting supporters can get their vegan alcoholic beverages from a marquee just outside their entrance. Inside the ground, the main all-seater stand dominates, stretching along one length and giving unobstructed views of the action, and with executive boxes above the seating. There are covered terraces behind both goals, both for home fans, and I chose to watch from the North Stand, the wider of the two, as I always like to take advantage of being able to stand on a terraces to stand on at professional games when available. The remaining length is allocated to away fans, and is mostly a shallow uncovered terrace, but with a small metallic all-seater stand containing just two rows of seating in one corner above the terrace. Given the club's green ethos, it was a slight surprise, albeit very welcome one, that programmes are still produced, and a decent publication it is too, 56 pages attractively laid out, very easy on the eye and was informative and interesting enough.
In their third season following promotion to the EFL in 2017, and after losing out in the promotion play-offs last season following a fifth placed finish, Forest Green came into this game in ninth place in the table, following 12 wins and nine draws from their 31 league games, and two points adrift of the play-off places, but they were not in good form, drawing their last game at Grimsby, which followed three consecutive defeats. Walsall were relegated from League One at the end of last season, and there is little prospect of an immediate return, as they sat in 15th place, 12 points adrift of the play-off positions, following ten wins and six draws from their 31 league games. They were also in poor form, having lost their last three league games, and four of their last five. When the two teams met in the reverse fixture in August, the game ended 1-1, although in an EFL Trophy fixture between the two clubs, Walsall triumphed 6-0.
On a mainly overcast but occasionally sunny afternoon, with a chilly wind keeping conditions cold, the first half was an even, a cagey affair for the most part but both sides managed to create a couple of decent chances. On the half hour mark, Walsall appealed strong for a penalty following a handball, but the protests were waved away. On 37 minutes, Forest Green came so close to opening the scoring, when a corner was played in and Josh March rose highest to connect with a glancing header, but the ball bounced back off the inside of the far post, roll back along the line and towards a crowd of players, with a Walsall defender just managing to hoof the ball clear.
It would only take seven minutes after the break for the deadlock to be broken. The visitors were awarded a penalty when Kevin Dawson rather rashly bundled over Liam Kinsella by the outer corner of the penalty area, and Josh Gordon struck the ball low towards the bottom left corner, and although the keeper Conrad Logan went the right way, he could only deflect the ball high into the roof of the net. Forest Green then had a glaring chance to equalise, when the ball was crossed across goal finding an unmarked Aaron Collins, but he couldn't make a clean connection to apply the necessary finish to tap the ball home. That was to prove very costly for Forest Green, as shortly afterwards, on 73 minutes, when Walsall doubled their lead. Lavery dispossessed a Forest Green player in midfield, with the loose ball rolling into the path of Wes McDonald, who drove down the left, going past a couple of defenders, before eventually striking the ball across the keeper and into the net. That seemed to knock the stuffing out of Forest Green, who for a while did not seem to show much urgency to get back in the game, instead happy to pass sideways and backwards. But as the game entered the final ten minutes, Forest Green did look a lot more threatening, creating some good chances, and on 80 minutes, Collins' excellent shot on the turn forced a fabulous save by the keeper Liam Roberts low down to his left. On 86 minutes, Forest Green finally found the back of the net, when a corner was floated in and March connected with a glancing header to send the ball inside the far post. A point was suddenly very much up for grabs now, and Forest Green pushed hard in the closing minutes, but the closest they came were a couple of powerful headers into the keeper's clutches, and so they fell to their fourth consecutive home defeat since the turn of the year, although they still remain only three points adrift of the play-offs. Walsall will be delighted to have ended their losing run, which keeps their very faint hopes of making the play-offs alive, with nine points to make up.
To some relief, the infamous bottleneck of traffic heading back down the hill to Nailsworth wasn't as bad as it might have been, and I made it back to Stroud on the bus just before 6, comfortably in time for my booked train of 18.31. This was a really enjoyable day out, at a unique ground, setting and club within the EFL.
Video highlights of this match can be viewed by clicking here.
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