FOREST Green Rovers boss Rob Edwards praised his players after they ended their seven-match winless run with victory at Colchester United.

The League Two leaders got back to winning ways thanks to Matty Stevens' ninth-minute strike, at the JobServe Community Stadium.

Edwards revealed he changed things around slightly in the second half, in order to deal with the attacking threat Colchester posed through John Akinde.

The Forest Green boss felt his side did that well, to see the game out and extend their lead at the top of the table to eight points.

Edwards said: "I'm delighted with the performance and I thought we started the game well.

"We looked a threat from the beginning and created chances and attacked with real penetration with good numbers, with quality.

"The threat that they had was quite obvious; the counter attack and they obviously direct into (John) Akinde as well and have runners off him.

"We had to make a slight adjustment in the second half just to make sure we locked that down.

"I thought we managed the game very well then.

Gazette:

"I'm delighted with the lads and I thought they were really brave.

"We started the game with a real intent and a purpose.

"We wanted to try and get on the ball and try and play our way and they did that - they committed to it.

"I'm delighted for the group and delighted for the travelling supporters, who'll be really pleased.

"It has been a bit of a long time coming and it's been a really big effort.

"Everyone has shown a lot of belief.

"Everyone has got around the group this last week, staff together and the lads have been together.

"You need everyone together when times are a little bit tough.

"We've won a game of football and there's nine more to go and we've got to try and win the next one.

"But this was a really good step in the right direction.

Gazette:

"We could have had more goals and it is something that we need to get back to.

“We’ve spoken about that before but we did enough to win the game.

“When you keep a clean sheet, you only need one but we did have other chances that we probably should have taken."

Forest Green now have a break between fixtures.

They do not have a game this weekend and are next in action when they host bottom club Scunthorpe United, on April 2.

Gazette:

Edwards added: “The lads can get a little bit of downtime and refresh because we know there’s a lot of games coming.

“We know what’s coming so it’s going to be intense.

“We’ve got a bit of time now – we’ve got the rest of this week and then we’ve got a full week’s training before we play again.

“We’re well aware of the situation now and we know what we’ve got coming up.

“But as I always say, every game is difficult, especially at this stage of the season but there’s a spirit and a togetherness that the lads have got.”