We came out the slightly stronger of the sides, but there was little between us for the first 20 minutes. Lax marking from Benjamin Laurant on a defensive corner gifted Forest Green winger Britt Assombalonga the opening goal in the 22nd minute, spurring my team into action.
Laurant almost redeemed himself ten minutes later when an excellent challenge just inside the opposition’s penalty area earned him a shot at goal. It beat the keeper but sailed wide of the mark.
Josh Gowling headed over the bar on 40 minutes, then Olembé pulled scores level with a brilliant left-footed strike on the brink of half time. The Cameroonian winger found himself in space following Billington’s short through ball, then peeled off a thunderous drive beyond the keeper on his near post.
I tried to make Forest Green work harder during the second half. A number of their players came into the match fatigued; if I could wear them down, I might blunt the danger.
News on the wire told me that Mansfield were two up and in control against AFC Telford. If we wanted to win the league today, we’d have to win the match.
My boys were a bundle of nerves. The gravity of the occasion was clearly getting to them. For the first time in months, three of them had made the referee’s book. I subbed Laurant and Barnes-Homer out for what I hoped would be cooler heads—Simon Russell and Ben May.
The breakthrough came three minutes later. Koroma came short for a throw-in from Kanouté, then turned and sprinted forward with the ball. He crossed to the near post, where Diagouraga had broken free of his man. The midfielder calmly nodded home, putting us ahead with 20 minutes to play.
A great passing play from Forest Green cut our celebrations short in the 85th minute, however. With quick passing from Imudia at right back to Bangura in the centre of the pitch, then forward to Collins, square to Forbes, and through a gap in the defence to Collins again, they carved us into pieces. It was fantastic football on their part, but I’m not too proud of our role in the goal. Poor marking contributed to the move, giving Collins space to run into.
I threw caution to the wind, sending players forward in an all-out attack. I wanted to win, and I wanted to see that my players had greater determination to bag the title than Forest Green did to stay in the running for a play-off berth.
In the end, both teams ran out of time. Neither will be satisfied with a draw, but that’s the card we’ve been dealt. Our next match is at home against Mansfield in just two days. A loss there will put us under tremendous pressure, while anything else will confirm the title—in front of our own fans, too.
I won’t be starting star striker Matthew Barnes-Homer for that game. His anaemic performance today reiterated that he simply cannot perform in big matches—and this will be the biggest match of the season for us.
In other news, Kettering are the first team to be officially relegated from the Conference National this season. That’s looked to be a dead-set certainty for several months, but now we have mathematical certainty. They’re not the first team in professional English football to have that dubious honour, however, as Championship side Coventry assured their relegation last week.
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