Forest Green 1-0 Sheffield Wednesday: Duncan Ferguson earns first win as Rovers boss

Duncan Ferguson recorded his long-awaited first win as Forest Green manager after Jordan Garrick’s first-half strike saw Rovers past high-flying Sheffield Wednesday.

Everton legend Ferguson – who took charge of the Toffees in two separate interim spells – replaced Ian Burchnall at The Bolt New Lawn on January 26 and lost seven of his first nine games in charge.

Image: Duncan Ferguson took over as Forest Green boss on January 26 and had lost seven and drawn two of his first nine games in charge

But Garrick’s strike after 35 minutes ensured Rovers gave their ailing survival hopes a boost and denied Darren Moore’s side the chance to return to the top of League One after their second straight defeat.

Second-placed Wednesday came close to equalising in the 67th minute but Lee Gregory was denied by the combined efforts of Ross Doohan and Udoka Godwin-Malife.

Doohan then pulled off a fine save to repel Marvin Johnson as time ticked away, with Rovers holding on to record a first win since December.

Ferguson: First win a proud moment | ‘Why can’t we win our last eight?’

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Forest Green Rovers manager Duncan Ferguson says his first win at the club was ‘special’ after beating Sheffield Wednesday 1-0

Forest Green’s Duncan Ferguson:

“I think everybody deserved that today. I thought the boys put an incredible shift in. It’s a proud moment for myself and a proud moment for the fans to topple one of the big boys in the league.

“It’s tough because you know you’ve got to be perfect for most of the game – and I thought we were. They hardly created any chances, other than long balls into our box, and we defended them well. We created the better chances and should have been two or three up. The boys were absolutely fantastic today.

“It shows that we’re capable of getting results. We’ve been very close in four or five other games, but never quite got over the line, but today we got over the line and were worthy winners. I knew we were getting close.

“There’s games to play, there’s points to win – if we can play like that in every game, why can’t we win them all?”