FOREST Green Rovers manager Steve Cotterill admits the games are 'running out' for his side in their bit to survive relegation from the Football League.
Forest Green lost 2-0 at fellow strugglers Doncaster, the second game running they have been beaten by a side at the bottom following their damaging defeat to now second-bottom Sutton United.
Boss Cotterill felt the telling factor in the game was confidence, with his side smarting from that defeat to Sutton while Doncaster were enjoying an excellent run of form.
"It’s very much a confidence thing in the league," said Cotterill. "When teams get a win, they can quite often go and get another one and it works the other way as well when you get a defeat.
"I think that was the difference between the teams today. They looked confident and maybe if we had played them six or seven games ago, it might have been different. They looked like they were on the crest of a wave and we didn’t.
"We didn’t perform anywhere like I know we can. Admittedly, we were playing a team in form but we’ve done that before and had good results.
"We didn’t show enough. Some of the mistakes we made, we weren’t in any sort of rhythm and it was a disappointing day for us.
"We’ve had those before and we’ve got to try to deal with them because the games are running out."
Meanwhile, Doncaster manager Grant McCann believes his side's recent form could see them mount a late surge for the League Two play-offs, with only a 10-point gap to make up.
"I was laying in bed with my wife and I told her about how far off the play-offs we are and she said she doesn’t know why I put so much pressure on myself," he said.
"I think she knows me by now. I put a lot of pressure on myself, whether it was when I was playing, when I’m managing or even in every day life. That’s the way I like to work.
"For me and this group, it’s all about the next game now. We just want to carry on, game after game now, and see where we are at the end of the season.
"We’ve got a very tough game next week away at Crawley and we’ll prepare the boys as best we can to go and win that one.
"We stuck to our task in this one and got the job done, even though we could have been better with the ball."
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