HOPPING MAD Forest Green boss Mark Cooper vented his spleen at referee Darren Drysdale as bottom-of-the-table Stevenage held promotion-chasing Rovers to a scoreless draw.

Cooper felt former Forest Green striker Kurtis Guthrie should have been handed a straight red card in the first half for an aerial challenge on defender Farrend Rawson, with the Stevenage attacker incurring a booking instead.

Rawson failed to returned after the break following the challenge, to leave the Rovers’ boss incandescent with rage after losing Bournemouth loanne Kyle Taylor to a second yellow four minutes from time.

He said: “If we're going to get a red card, then Kurtis Guthrie should get one.

“The referee spoke to me before the game and made all the right noises and said; ‘I see you’ve had a lot of fouls against you’.

“I’m not going to get myself in trouble, but it’s clear to everyone in the stadium to see.

“I’m not particularly happy and we huffed and puffed, it was very frustrating and not a good performance and the only positive is we kept another clean sheet and didn’t get beaten.”

Cooper felt the long mid-week trek to Carlisle took its toll on his side.

He added: “We had a long trip on Tuesday and we looked really leggy and tired and we had too many players off their game today.”

Watch Mark Cooper's post-match interview