SELF-ASSERTIVE Forest Green boss Mark Cooper insists his side's League Two survival hopes are in their own hands.

Barnet stung toothless Forest Green in first-half stoppage-time today, thanks to an Alex Nicholls strike, stretching Rovers’ winless run on the road to 12 games.

Cooper’s side drop a place to 22nd after Grimsby’s late win over Chesterfield and are now four points above the bottom two with five games to go and a trip to Cheltenham Town next on the agenda.

But Cooper insists his side’s League Two survival hopes remain in their own hands.

“We know what we have got to do, it 's in our own hands and we must stay calm and not get bogged down in today’s result and move on to Cheltenham next Saturday,” said Cooper.

Rovers’ boss feels relegation rivals Chesterfield are unable to leapfrog his out of sorts side.

He added: “Chesterfield got beat at Grimsby and they still can’t catch us if they win their games in hand.

“I have to look at the team selection for next week against Cheltenham and some players have probably not done enough to stay in the team.”

Cooper was unhappy with the way his side let Barnet take the lead.

“We had opportunities to win it, but we have given Barnet something to hang on to.

"You can’t concede the goal like we did on 47 minutes.

"We have got the ball and passed to one of our players and it runs under his foot, they get a throw-in and score from it and that changes the game and gives Barnet something to hang on to.

“We get loads of possession, but it is what you do with it in the final third, and we did not have enough quality.”