Forest Green boss David Horseman blamed ‘individual errors’ as his side threw away a two-goal lead in a 2-2 draw with relegation rivals Grimsby.
Gavan Holohan and Donovan Wilson cancelled out Kyle McAllister’s first-half double in an entertaining encounter.
The Mariners produced a second-half comeback to take a point which left Rovers in the bottom two.
“We will replace them (the players), but we haven’t got that luxury yet,” said Horseman. “They try so hard but it’s no good if you don’t win the games.”
Grimsby started well and were inches away from the opener when Harvey Rodgers poked an effort goalwards following a corner but Jordan Moore-Taylor cleared the ball off the line.
Town goalkeeper Harvey Cartwright produced a fine reflex save after he was wrongfooted by Jacob Maddox’s deflected cross.
McAllister almost opened the scoring with a curling long-range effort that cannoned back off the crossbar.
Cartwright had to be alert to deny Maddox following a fortuitous bounce of the ball landed at his feet, but Grimsby’s shot-stopper was out quickly to smother.
The impressive midfielder was not to be denied from the penalty spot in the 37th minutesafter Callum Jones was deemed to have been tripped.
McAllister doubled Forest Green’s lead when he collected Tyrese Omotoye’s pass and produced a lobbed effort over Cartwright and out of the reach of Grimsby’s despairing defenders.
Grimsby halved the deficit when Gavan Holohan’s goalward effort went into into the back of the net following a deep corner, although Wilson may have got the final touch.
Wilson then capitalised on Reece Welch’s poor touch and slid past James Belshaw in the Forest Green net.
Rovers almost won it late on but Omotoye’s header came back out off the upright and Sean Robertson’s stoppage-time effort flew over Cartwright’s crossbar.
Horseman added: “The first half was superb, the manner of the goals that we conceded was sickening.
“It’s been a trend that the cross towards the far post that they end up scoring from. We have got good quality players to come back but they’ve been out for far too long.”
Joint-interim manager Ben Davies said: “We were disappointed going in 2-0 but we gave a reaction in that second half. We had to instill the belief in them and then have that conviction.
“We’ve worked a lot on set-plays; it’s something we’ve been disappointed with.”
Wilson’s first came just seconds after coming on as a second-half substitute, something Davies was pleased to see.
“The statistics of substitutes who win the points is through the roof and we’ve highlighted that.
“When you’re sat in there at 2-0 down, we were thinking ‘is it going to be one of those days?’ But we hammered away and could have had a couple more in the end.”
Ipswich Town 2-2 Aston Villa: Delap's double earns hosts a point
Liam Delap scored twice as Premier League newcomers Ipswich Town claimed a confidence-boosting 2-2 draw with Aston Villa on Sunday.
Villa looked set to forge another comeback win when Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins propelled them into the lead.
But Delap, who had opened the scoring in the eighth minute at Portman Road, had other ideas.
At the end of a rapid counter-attack, Delap brilliantly bamboozled Diego Carlos before firing a left-footed effort into the bottom-right corner in the 72nd minute.
It might have been a hat-trick for Delap if not for Emiliano Martinez, who had made a fantastic save in a one-v-one with Ipswich's forward in the first half.
Pau Torres preserved a point for Villa with a brilliant last-ditch block from Wes Burns, while both goalkeepers were also called into action – by Ross Barkley and Jack Taylor respectively – late on.
Data Debrief: Delap's double delight
Delap became the first Ipswich player to score a double in a Premier League match since Marcus Bent in March 2002 (v Newcastle United), and the youngest to do so in the competition for the Tractor Boys, at the age of 21 years and 234 days.
It was also his first career double in a league match.
At the opposite end, Watkins – who headed in from a Leon Bailey cross after teeing up Rogers' equaliser – continued his fine form in front of goal. The England striker has now scored and assisted in eight Premier League matches in his career, which is the joint-most of any player for Villa (matching Dwight Yorke and Gabriel Agbonlahor).
Celta Vigo 1-1 Girona: Aspas scores late as visitors' winless run goes on
Girona's are now without a win in four LaLiga matches after Iago Aspas' late goal held them to a 1-1 draw at Celta Vigo on Sunday.
Girona, surprise third-place finishers last season, dominated possession in the early stages before taking the lead in the 38th minute when Yangel Herrera rose high to head in Daley Blind's cross.
Celta responded well but initially struggled to test Paulo Gazzaniga in their search for an equaliser, with Girona offering little in terms of threat at the other end.
The hosts eventually found a way through in the 81st minute - Williot Swedberg laid the ball off to Aspas, who made no mistake with his composed finish.
Girona sit 12th in the LaLiga table on nine points from eight games, while Celta moved to ninth place with 10 points ahead of the remaining weekend fixtures.
Data Debrief: Girona stumble again
Girona may have had fewer shots than their hosts (nine compared to Celta's 12), but they looked set to end their winless run despite that. In the first half, they had three big chances, of which they took one.
In the end, Celta's push for an equaliser paid off, with Aspas netting the winner with their first shot on target. They only had two overall, with the other coming just seconds before the final whistle.
It was the Celta captain's fourth goal in LaLiga this campaign, and his 160th in the competition overall (365 appearances).
Al Kholood 2-4 Al-Hilal: Koulibaly on target as champions move to summit
Al-Hilal withstood a late Al Kholood rally to move top of the Saudi Pro League following a 4-2 victory at King Abdullah Sport City Stadium.
The damage was done during a late first-half surge by the reigning champions, who leapfrogged Al-Ittihad to the summit of the table.
Al-Hilal broke the deadlock in the 38th minute through former Napoli and Chelsea defender Kalidou Koulibaly, who finished after Renan Lodi initially struck the woodwork.
Malcom doubled the lead four minutes later, then Ali Al Bulayhi made it 3-0 in first-half stoppage time.
Former Atletico Madrid and Nottingham Forest defender Lodi then got in the act to make it four within three minutes of the restart.
The hosts finished the contest the stronger of the two sides with Hammam Al Hammami and a William Troost-Ekong penalty halving the deficit, but that rally could not prevent the visitors from remaining perfect after their first five games.
Data Debrief: Al-Hilal remain perfect
Al-Hilal have won each of their opening five games in a Saudi Pro League season for the third time in their history, also achieving the feat in 2010-11 and 2018-19.
Jorge Jesus' side also continued their dominant record against newly promoted clubs, having now won each of their last nine such matches.
Despite their late surge, Al Kholood suffered their third defeat of the season, though there was individual cause for celebration, as former Al-Hilal player Mohammed Jahfali came on for his 200th Saudi Pro League appearance.
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