ROVERS WILL BE TOUGH TO CRACK

FOREST GREEN v SOUTHEND U

- Chris Dunlavy

FOREST Green Rovers have rarely encountered much trouble reaching the play-offs, but winning them is a different matter.

Nobody in Nailsworth will ever forget the glorious day at Wembley in May 2017, when a first-half blitz from Kaiyne Woolery and Christian Doidge secured a 3-1 victory over Tranmere Rovers and a historic promotion to the EFL.

Yet that triumph was sandwiched between failures; a 3-1 defeat to Grimsby under the arch in 2016; a semi-final exit as Tranmere took their revenge in 2019; another to Newport County two years later in a 5-4 epic that swung back and forth before being settled by a 119th-minute winner.

On each occasion, Forest Green were favourites, with a squad and budget the envy of the division.