Forest Green went all the way to the play-offs last season, a first for this ambitious club, and they were determined to go all the way and reach the promised land of the Football League. Adrian Pennock had managed shrewdly in his first full season in charge and he enjoyed a quite brilliant start of the new campaign too. Rovers not just flew out of the blocks but obliterated the competition as they secured nine wins out of the first nine games. Few of their wins were routs or involved some sensational football. Yet the team was fully focused and played some smart football to edge tight games and open up a lead that bubbled to eight points to the closest challenger by September. Yet there was always going to be a hard landing once the winning started ended and it was Woking who downed the Gloucester side in a dramatic 2:1 win in Surry. That had a bad effect on the morale of the squad and they failed to win any of the next four games as well, losing to the likes of Macclesfield and Gateshead. Suddenly the bubble burst and Pennock had to intervene to get the team back on the right track. He had excellent players in every position and changed formation a couple of times to get a new balance right. But his best move proved to be the signing of free agent Darren Carter at the end of September. The experienced campaigner would prove an invaluable asset in midfield and certainly helped Rover steady the ship. They remained leaders in the table despite winning just a couple of games out of nine from September to mid-October and then built another strong run to make it six games without a loss. The fire and urgency from the early weeks, when Keanu Marsh-Brown and Aaron O’Conno were terrorising defences, was nowhere to be seen though and the team certainly lost some its early ability to excite. They were tied with local rivals Cheltenham at the top end of the table but their opponents were proving the more durable and consistent side and started to open up a lead at the summit. But Forest Green were not letting up either and enjoyed a quite stunning run of just a single loss in 18 games going to early March. That loss was actually against a poor Torquay side but overall Rovers were in ruthless mood and won six games on the bounce at the start of 2016. Some of them involved last-minute winners and impressive comebacks and that only went on to show the mental strength of the squad lead by Pennock. The battle for the title was finely poised come February as neither of the two main contenders was really making mistakes and the tit-for-tat continued with relentless intensity. But Rovers saw their season collapse from the point when Grimsby upstaged them for a tight 1:0 win at their own ground in early March. The team responded with a good success at Gateshead the week after that but their form deteriorated progressively in the key weeks. Points were dropped in the next five games, all of them finishing draws, as Cheltenham decisively pulled clear and celebrated the win with two weeks to spare. The Forest Green players suddenly forgot how to close out a win as they allowed ten-man Bromley to recover from two goals down and hold them to a stalemate, just a couple of days after failing to score against a woeful Aldershot shot. Suddenly morale around the place hit a really low ebb and things were not looking rosy ahead of the impending play-offs as the team lost to strugglers Halifax a week before the end of the regular season too. That proved the last game that Pennock would manage as the owner ruthlessly decided to cut him loose. It seemed like a shocking decision but it was one that worked out as caretaker Scott Bartlett won his first game in charger and then inspired the team to edge past a very tough Dover side to reach the play-off final. Now there was just one game left to complete the dream but Forest Green proved second best against Grimsby and had to accept a 3:1 loss. It is a disappointing blow to them so close to the finish line but the future is still bright for this club and they have an excellent manager in place for next season in Mark Cooper.
