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“If you take Harvey’s goals away his positional play can be better” – Forest Green Rovers boss Steve Cotterill ahead of FC Halifax Town at home
Forest Green Rovers boss Steve Cotterill has given high praise to Harvey Bunker in recent weeks, but believes there is still a lot more to come from the young midfielder ahead of hosting FC Halifax Town on Wednesday.
Bunker has now scored three goals in his last three matches, with all of them being the opening goal of the games.
“I actually think that if you take his goals away, I think his positional play can be better in that position than it has been,” Cotterill said on what can be improved for the midfielder.
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“There were lots of times in the game (against Southend) where we felt that our eights were slightly too high and it didn’t give Harry (Cardwell) any space to work in, so we were slightly disappointed with those aspects of our game.
"When he has scored a goal, he probably wants to score another one and he will think that scoring a goal will keep him in the team, whereas that doesn’t necessarily happen because I have left the strikers out after they have scored a goal, but I am delighted for Harvey.
“I have liked him ever since I have been here and he is playing in that role now that he seems to be enjoying, it stops him passing backwards a lot which he did a lot of, but that position and body shape has probably allowed him to get forward more.”
Rovers have had an extra day than usual to prepare for a midweek game, but it hasn’t come to much advantage due to their opponents having had 10 days since they last played.
“The only thing is it doesn’t matter too much this week because of having the game on the Saturday coming called off,” Cotterill said. “Halifax had their game called off last Saturday so it doesn’t make a lot of difference really.”
Halifax come into the game on Wednesday having not played at the weekend due to the freezing temperatures and the pitch being deemed unplayable. On what he makes of the Shaymen, Cotterill said: “They are well-organised, very spirited, got some clever individuals and play as a team, which I like.
“That is probably all I can say, we haven’t come across too many teams that have already played Halifax where we have ended up playing them. So, I haven’t seen a lot of them other than from Sunday onwards where I have seen a few of their games, but it is going to be a tough game, we know that, but there isn’t an easy one.”
With the belief that the opposition have a high spirit in their team, it could well be that the game will be much tougher to win.
“We wouldn’t be that arrogant that we all of a sudden have to start talking about two goals and three goals here,” Cotterill said on whether more would be needed to finish the game off. “We do things bit by bit and in stages, we will try and play as well as we can, we have done our work on what we think we can do.
“They (Halifax) are quite flexible with their formations and have tended to match teams up in certain games, they may or may not do that tomorrow. They may pick a team that can start off with a 3-4-3, but rolls into a back-four, so we have done the work on that. We are prepared and ready to go.”
Liam Sercombe is still continuing to progress from his injury setback. However, the midfielder will not be available for Wednesday’s game.
“It is funny because he has ended up picking up a secondary injury that is not a big injury, but slowing him down with the other one,” Cotterill said on his progression. “When he has pulled up with his calf, he has ended up having a bit of groin pain. I think what has happened there is he as been at it and desperate to get back and probably with his running he has ended up compensating a little bit.
“Therefore, it has given him a little bit of groin pain, we just need it to settle down. We can safely say that Sercs won’t be involved tomorrow night, but then when we come back after that little break that we have, maybe Braintree, we will see how he is.”
Rovers last played Halifax in the 2015/16 season, the away game saw a 2-0 win for Forest Green after first-half goals from Jon Parkin and Elliott Frear. The home game resulted in a 1-0 defeat when Shaquille McDonald scored in the second-half.
