Steve's still Cott a magic touch!

BASHFUL Steve Cotterill refused to take any credit after his managerial masterstroke saw Forest Green edge out a dogged Hartlepool.

- Ash Loveridge

With the game deadlocked, veteran boss Cotterill rolled the dice, making four changes with 25 minutes to go. It worked a treat – midfielder Charlie McCann smashing home the winner with 18 minutes to go thanks to the collective magic of substitutes Marcel Lavinier and Manny Osadebe.

Playing down his part in the win, Cotterill said: “I’m not patting myself on the back for the substitutes. You can make a million and one subs and I’ve done that throughout my managerial career and some of them work and some of them don’t. So I’m not about to stand here and start patting myself on the back.

“It wasn’t the team that won that game, it was the squad and it was their spirit. It was their effort and their energy.”