Forest Green caretaker manager Dan Connor says his players need to “love each other” after they started the post-Troy Deeney era with a 1-1 draw at Gillingham.
Callum Jones fired into the top corner to cancel out Oli Hawkins’ opener and lift Rovers off the bottom of the League Two table in Connor’s first game in charge.
Deeney was sacked as manager following an extraordinary attack on his own squad last weekend where he called them “babies” and said he’d rather watch the Antiques Roadshow than his team play after they lost to Harrogate.
He was given a four-match touchline ban and then dismissed on Thursday, less than a month into the role.
With another relegation fight on the cards, Connor has urged the squad to move on quickly and stick together as a team.
“We spoke before the game about heart and courage and making sure we left here with something,” he said.
“We got across to the boys that they need to love each other and they have to show the ability to show resilience when the chips are down.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be plain sailing today. It’s easy to crumble when you’re behind but there was a willingness from everybody here to will that ball into their net.”
Hawkins put Gillingham ahead in the 67th minute when he rose highest to head Connor Mahoney’s corner past Rovers goalkeeper Luke Daniels.
Jones fired home eight minutes later and Forest Green had the chance to win it late on when Fankaty Dabo – who Deeney labelled as “awful” last week – missed a golden opportunity.
“I had a couple of conversations with Fankaty, about whether or not he wanted to be involved this week given all that’s gone on,” Connor added.
“He said that he was and I trust him as a professional. He went out there and helped earn the point for the team.”
Gillingham were on a three-match winning run and another would have lifted them into sixth and the play-off places.
Manager Stephen Clemence claimed complacency had set in and his players expected to roll Forest Green over.
He said: “I’m very disappointed with the result. Unfortunately we didn’t reach the same levels we have in the last three games.
“I felt there was a little bit of edginess about us and we all have to look at ourselves – myself included – and reset for next week. I know we can do a lot better than that.
“We’re playing against the team at the bottom of the league but their players are fighting for their careers.
“These games are never easy – just because we’ve won three on the spin you can’t think you can turn up and roll teams over easily.”
Man United could be without Toone until new year, says Skinner
Marc Skinner revealed that Manchester United could be without midfielder Ella Toone until the new year after she picked up a calf injury in training.
Toone has featured in five games in the Women's Super League this season, but is yet to register a goal or an assist so far this term.
The 25-year-old has missed United's last two games and was not selected in Sarina Wiegman's England squad for their upcoming friendlies against the United States and Switzerland.
She had previously appeared in a staggering 96 straight matches before missing United's WSL showdown with Leicester City last weekend.
But ahead of the Red Devils' meeting with league leaders Chelsea on Sunday, Skinner confirmed they would be without Toone for not only that game, but for the foreseeable future.
"We have three games [after the international break and before Christmas]. There's always the hope, but I think you balance and you go, 'right, if we can get her back, we get her back'," Skinner said.
"But we're just not going to rush her in this moment because it's a calf injury, it's your running mechanism. If we injure the running mechanism, it takes longer.
"So ideally we'd like her back for those games afterwards.
"The projection is she misses this game [Chelsea], she misses the international window, probably misses the first game after that, and then we'll see from there.
"But because it is such a short block of only three games, we'll assess whether it's worth that or actually resetting to come back after Christmas."
Al-Nassr 1-2 Al-Qadsiah: Aubameyang winner ends hosts' unbeaten run
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hit the winner as Al-Qadsiah inflicted a 2-1 defeat on Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League on Friday to end their 21-match unbeaten run.
Cristiano Ronaldo's seventh league goal of the season put Al-Nassr ahead, but Al-Qadsiah replied swiftly through Julian Quinones before Aubameyang struck the decisive blow.
The hosts drew first blood in the 32nd minute when Ronaldo slotted home after Al-Qadsiah goalkeeper Koen Casteels had spilled a routine catch from Talisca's cross.
However, Al-Nassr's joy was short-lived when Quinones brought down Turki Al Ammar's delivery five minutes later, with the Mexcio winger firing past Bento to level the scores.
Quinones also played a part in the winning goal after brilliantly turning the ball back across goal from Nahitan Nandez's search pass to tee up a simple finish for Aubameyang.
The result sees Al-Qadsiah move level on 22 points with third-placed Al-Nassr, with Al-Shabab also level with them.
Stefano Pioli's Al-Nassr are six points adrift of defending champions and leaders Al-Hilal, who also have a game in hand.
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