Forest Green Rovers 5-0 Colchester United

With no Championship or National League fixtures, I took in Forest Green Rovers vs Colchester United and witnessed a shock result.

Forest Green Rovers secured their first home league win since March in emphatic style by thrashing fellow strugglers Colchester United 5-0.  

Callum Morton’s first goal since his summer move ensured Rovers led at the break and their chances of victory improved further when Jay Mingi was sent off two minutes into the second half.  

Kyle McAllister scored a killer second before substitutes Matty’s Taylor and Stevens added gloss to the scoreline.  

David Horseman made five changes from the side beaten for the sixth game in a row by Accrington Stanley last time out, Fankaty Dabo, who was handed the captain’s armband, Marcel Lavinier, Jacob Maddox, Callum Morton and Tyrese Omotoye given starting berths. The visitors made one change to their XI, Tom Hopper stepping in for Samson Tovide up top.  

The hosts started well in an energetic set up but the visitors had the first big chance, Jayden Fevrier stealing possession from Maddox to tee up a Joe Taylor snapshot. A minute or so later, Maddox was doing good work himself, latching onto a loose ball and playing a one-two before firing over. A flurry of chances in short succession finished with Omotoye driving through the centre and ignoring the run of Morton to fire a deflected shot wide.  

Colchester’s best chance to open the scoring came in curious circumstances. A nice move down the left between Al-Amin Kazeem and Noah Chilvers led to Dominic Bernard giving the ball back to James Belshaw after he failed to handle a low cross. Cameron McGeehan had an opportunity to score an indirect from six-yards out but Morton was quickest off the mark to make the block.  

They were left to rue that opportunity. Maddox was sharp to dispossess Mingi as he looked to turn out in midfield. The loose ball was picked up by Omotoye whose effort from the edge of the box was parried by Smith into the path of Morton. The red-headed forward almost added a second before half-time but couldn’t lift the ball over Smith.  

Colchester’s woes grew at the start of the second half. Mingi was booked in the first half having committed two tackles in quick succession and having been let off after making a third, he received his marching orders for the fourth, failing to get to a loose ball before Omotoye and subsequently taking him out. Maddox and Morton enjoyed the red being dished out, waving happily to departing 22-year-old.  

Smith was brave to deny Troy Deeney as he challenged a through ball and the player-coach was involved again when finding Morton who teed up Omotoye to force a stop.  

The New Lawn outfit weren’t to be denied a third time. Omotoye did brilliantly to win possession on the left-hand side and tried to find Deeney with a pass inside. Deeney dummied the ball and allowed Kyle McAllister to move into the box and whip the ball into the far corner.  

It was game, set and match. The visitors never responded sufficiently and The Green took control. A swift move from left to right ended with Dabo heading McAllister’s cross wide. Deeney found Omotoye who again endured the wrath of Morton as he failed to slide the ball across for a simple tap-in and was denied. Still, the winger was a positive influence and found Harvey Bunker to curl wide.  

The third came on 78 minutes. A forward pass was dummied by both Sean Robertson and Stevens leaving Taylor free to fire on goal, his near-post effort squirming through Smith. A minute later and it was four, Robertson being played in down the right and seeing Stevens control his low cross before finishing.  

The fifth came in injury time, Bunker’s chip forward beating the mask-wearing Tom Dallison to find Stevens who controlled and finished calmly.  

Lineups 

FGR 

Belshaw; Lavinier Welch Bernard Dabo (Robson 68); McAllister (Robertson 75) Maddox (Jenks 67) Bunker Omotoye; Deeney (Stevens 75) Morton (Taylor 75). Unused: Searle; Bendle.  

Colchester 

Smith; Egbo Mitchell Hall; Fevrier McGeehan Mingi Kazeem (Dallison 46); Chilvers (Bandeira 75); Taylor (Tovide 46) Hopper (Ihionvien 75). Unused: Hornby; Greenidge Cooper.  

Tactics 

Forest Green played a narrow 4-2-2-2 system while Colchester switched between 3-4-1-2 and 3-5-2 systems depending on whether they had possession or not.  

Colchester tried to play out from the back and looked to do this by drawing on Forest Green before springing forward. This often involved looking to play into the middle of the park then out wide, or just going immediately into a wide position where the wing-back could build the attack. This worked particularly well at times down the left where Kazeem and Chilvers linked up – Chilvers was often a spare man when he stayed high up the pitch and made the most of this running behind Lavinier to receive from Kazeem.  

Horseman’s side were aggressive in how they went about stopping this. Morton would start on the deep-lying midfield but quickly press Alex Mitchell at the heart of the defence. Deeney and McAllister would step onto the other members of the back three while Maddox and Bunker would step on to close the deep-lying midfielders. The full-back on the side the ball was played would step onto the wing-back. The centre-backs went man for man with the attacking pair, even when they dropped off. The aim was that when they did win possession, they would have a man nearby to collect the loose ball, shown best for the first.  

When Colchester did step up the pitch, FGR dropped to a narrow 4-4-2 and looked to close the gaps between the lines and avoid any potential switches of play, keeping the game wide.  

In possession, FGR would try and play out. Their centre-backs would split with Bunker and Maddox showing for possession as part of the box. The full-backs would step higher up the pitch with McAllister and Omotoye stepping inside.  

Early doors, they utilised width and the pace of Morton. Switches out to the full-backs were common, as were forward passes down the right-hand side to let Morton take a run at Connor Hall. As the game stretched, it opened up and allowed FGR to find forward passes into the front four in central positions where a player would always be nearby in support.  

What didn’t help Colchester was that they went for a man-for-man approach. The front two went up against the centre-backs while Chilvers and Mingi stepped on to Maddox and Bunker. The wing-backs stepped onto the full-backs leaving McGeehan and the back three up against FGR’s front four. Deeney was comfortable with his back to goal against Mandela Egbo while Omotoye, Morton and McAllister picked up excellent positions with their markers unsure whether to follow and when they did follow, they weren’t strong enough in the battle. Every battle they lost, the more space opened up for oncoming runners, which was especially worse when Mitchell then Dallison were pulled out of position while Hall didn’t enjoy his battles down the left-hand side against pacy and tricky opposition.  

Colchester made two half-time changes. One of those saw Dallison replaced Kazeem. Egbo moved to RWB, Mitchell to RCB, Dallison went into the middle of the back three and Fevrier switched from right to left.  

Mingi’s red card immediately forced changes. Chilvers stepped in alongside McGeehan. The wing-backs started playing higher up the pitch and they looked to utilise the width more by playing a couple of diagonals out wide in an attempt to pin back Forest Green’s back four. That approach couldn’t last long due to a lack of quality with the ball.  

Colchester never really adapted defensively which caused them numerous issues the longer the game went on. McGeehan remained deeper in midfield with Chilvers and Bandeira stepping on with the front two. This only left more gaps for FGR to exploit against a slower back three than the one that started the game.  

Players 

I thought Maddox was the best player on the pitch in the first half. He helped set the tone for the press and was brave in and out of possession. 

Omotoye won the man of the match award and it was well deserved. He made a few poor decisions with the ball but his willingness to drive forward, commit people and show strength in the challenge was vital to FGR’s game.  

Elsewhere, Morton’s pace scared the Colchester defence both in and out of possession. Deeney was tidy and strong with the ball. Lavinier showed good control and Bernard, who I believe has received stick for some of his performances, was excellent at centre-back, showing strength and aggression to win his battles.  

For Colchester, the best link up came via Kazeem and Chilvers in the first half. I thought Mitchell showed promise as the main centre-back but struggled when moved to the right of the back three. Fevrier showed some nice touches in 1v1 situations but didn’t get into the game enough. 

It was a day to forget for Jay Mingi who was robbed of possession for the first and later sent off. Tom Smith will have been looking for an opportunity but is unlikely to have much of a claim to more beyond international breaks.  

Conclusions 

This isn’t an easy one to judge.  

On the one hand, it’s easy to praise Forest Green for a fantastic performance but, equally, Colchester United were abysmal. So, how much can you read into both sides here?  

You wouldn’t have thought the hosts were bottom of the league table before this game. There was nothing fluky about this result. They earned it. They got their set up right from the off, forced mistakes, played with confidence and even if the final decision wasn’t always right, they were dangerous.  

However, they also found themselves coming up against a side that didn’t give them enough to think about the other way. Colchester made it easy for FGR and failed to adapt when things were clearly not going their way. Losing a man right after a half-time double change wasn’t easy to deal with but they still failed to adapt and give themselves a chance. 

All you can expect is that Horseman and his team take confidence from this result into their game with Mansfield Town – one that will be as tough as they come. 

As for Colchester, their numbers this season suggest they aren’t about to shy away from playing their brand of football. They attack with gusto, they are loose defensively and the aim is to outscore the opposition. They won’t go down to ten men every week and won’t play a side with so much focus every week. They take on Harrogate Town, Grimsby Town and Accrington Stanley in the coming weeks – Ben Garner will expect his side to put some points on the board from that lot.