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Conference
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Attendance: 1,022
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gashead eric
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Date 23/09/2008
Against Torquay United
Competition Blue Square Premiership
Home
Result Lost 1-2
Scorers Smith
Attendance 1022
Rovers Waste Golden Opportunity for Points
FOREST GREEN ROVERS 1 - 2 TORQUAY UNITED
Report supplied by www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk
THOUGH depleted in numbers and up against form horses, Forest Green will view the night's proceedings as a huge opportunity missed.
They were given a helping hand by Lady Luck, with Torquay forced to play more than 75 minutes with striker Tim Sills in goal following an injury to Michael Poke.
But, after Elliot Benyon's thunderbolt had cancelled out Jonathan Smith's scrambled opener, Adriano Rigoglioso missed a late penalty.
Cue the late twist, as the Devon side snatched all three points thanks to Matt Green's 94th minute strike.
The severity of the home side's injury problems meant the left-footed Paul Stonehouse was required to play at right-back, with Alex Lawless switching to central midfield and Les Afful given a rare start on the wing.
Yet they began in relatively confident fashion, Kaid Mohamed forcing Poke to fly across his goal with a dipping shot from 20 yards that landed in the Rockwool Terrace.
It proved to be the young stopper's last meaningful act, as moments later he appeared to tweak a muscle while bending down to collect the ball.
The sight of Torquay's chief goal threat donning the gloves must have been a huge boost to home morale, and Stonehouse was frustrated not to hit the target with a curling effort from the edge of the penalty area.
Surprisingly Rovers' passing game deteriorated markedly after that, and the visitors caused one or two palpitations from corners and set-pieces to ensure it was far from one-way traffic.
Sills was not properly tested until the 38th minute, when he unconvincingly pawed away Mohamed's drive and the ball was hacked clear.
Roscoe D'Sane and Mustapha Carayol both fired narrowly over at the other end, and frustration was growing among the New Lawn faithful when the lead was finally established in the fifth minute of first-half stoppage time.
It stemmed from Rigoglioso's near-post corner, which was headed on by Lawless and somehow ricocheted kindly for Smith to tuck away from close range.
Paul Buckle's men began the second period on the front foot, Chris Hargreaves failing to connect properly with a free header from a corner before substitute Kevin Nicholson brought a save from former team-mate Ryan Robinson with a skidding shot.
D'Sane saw a fierce effort cannon off Mark Preece and fly across the face of goal on 54 minutes, while Green's glancing header from a long Nicholson throw-in only narrowly beat the far post.
Still Torquay pressed, and Preece came to Forest Green's rescue again with a goal-line clearance after D'Sane had outfoxed Robinson.
The leveller eventually came via a diagonal ball into Rovers' box, which fell perfectly for Benyon to chest down and volley past the helpless Robinson from 16 yards.
Torquay now looked by far the likelier winners, but thought they had shot themselves in the foot when Steve Woods was adjudged to have unfairly blocked off Curtis McDonald.
Rigoglioso's effort from the spot summed up his night, as he failed to even test the stand-in keeper with a shot that was well wide.
Stonehouse finally called Sills into action with a low effort palmed away, while Darren Jones crashed a header against the crossbar from the resulting Afful corner.
But it was Torquay's night, as Green twisted on the edge of the area and finished sublimely in the top corner with virtually the last kick.
Forest Green: R. Robinson; P. Stonehouse, M. Preece, D. Jones, C. McDonald; L. Afful, A. Lawless, J. Smith, K. Mohamed (C. Platt 70); A. Rigoglioso; A. Mangan (M. Symons 56); Subs not used: L. Molyneaux, J. Simpson, T. Burton.
Torquay United: M. Poke (M. Green 17); L. Mansell, S. Woods, C. Todd (K. Nicholson 39), L. Hodges; R. D'Sane, C. Hargreaves, N. Wroe, M. Carayol; T. Thompson (E. Benyon 58); T. Sills; Subs not used: D. Stevens, S. Adams.
Referee: P. Tierney (Lancs) Attendance: 1,022
Star man: Mark Preece
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davidferguson1985
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ThomasFerguson
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pstyles
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