Duncan Ferguson: Forest Green Rovers players will have belief in League One survival after win

Jordon Garrick's winning goal ended a run of 16 league games without a win for Forest Green

League One's bottom side Forest Green Rovers will take belief from their win over Sheffield Wednesday in their battle for survival, says head coach Duncan Ferguson.

The 1-0 victory over the promotion-chasing Owls was their first in the league since 10 December, ending a run of 16 games without a win.

It was also the first victory of Ferguson's tenure.

Forest Green remain 11 points from safety with eight games to go.

"I think it will give them a good boost. They'll believe," Ferguson, who took charge in January, told BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

"It's all right me saying the performances have been there and people say 'but they're not winning'. But we have had good performances.

"The players have been doing really well. They couldn't quite get over the line but today (Sunday) they've performed really well and they've got over the line against a top, top team."

Jordon Garrick's first-half goal was enough to secure victory for Forest Green, who started the day 55 points behind second-placed Wednesday.

"I'm extremely proud, I thought the players were absolutely fantastic. They were tactically brilliant, technically they were very good as well and we created a lot of chances, we restricted Sheffield to not too many entrances to our box," Ferguson said.

"They started hitting long balls, they've got a big team and we had to defend the box really well, and I thought we did that and looked a threat on the counter attack and should have been a couple up at least."

Forest Green were only promoted to the third tier for the first time in their history after winning the League Two title last season but have struggled, having only won six times all campaign so far.

They next face Portsmouth away on Saturday, kick-starting a run of seven games throughout April before the final game of the season at Cambridge on 7 May.

"We've been doing well and we deserved it. The players worked their socks off," Ferguson said.

"It's great for the fans because the fans have supported the club through thick and thin and it was great for them to see them all celebrating."