Forest Green Rovers Head Coach Mark Cooper remains pleased with the way his side are ‘ironing out the wrinkles’, as they continued their winning run in pre-season, beating Bristol Rovers 4-3.

Ebou Adams and Carl Winchester both found the net from midfield, while wing-backs Nicky Cadden and Kane Wilson bagged their first goals for the club.

Cadden opened the scoring in style after 20 minutes, the Scotsman unleashing a vicious free-kick into the top corner, before an impressive first-half performance was made better still with 10 minutes to go until the break, Wilson bursting down the other flank to fire past Annsi Jaakkola.

The visitors pulled one back shortly after the break, but Adams, not to be out-done by his teammates, produced the strike of the afternoon four minutes later as he lasered a left-footed drive into the top corner.

Two more goals in as many minutes followed, as the visitors pulled another one back before Winchester added a fantastic free-kick of his own, 67 minutes into the encounter.

Despite the moments of magic, it was the overall performance of his side that pleased the Head Coach.

“I’m really pleased with the performance,” said Cooper.

“We looked organised, played good football and carried a real goal threat.

“It was only when we started to make a few changes and disrupt the flow of the team that we started to look a little less sure at the back, and we could have been four up at the break.

“Pre-season is about ironing out the wrinkles and right now I’m really pleased about where we are as a team.”

Having faced off against two non-league sides so far, this afternoon’s match proved FGR’s first real test, and Cooper was delighted with the way his side have faired so far.

“I’ve seen progress from the first day of pre-season until now,” he said.

“You want to win the games, and I’d have been frustrated if we didn’t win that one because of the positive reinforcement.

“If you’re trying to get the boys to buy into something, it’s good performances and results that encourage them to do that.”

With both wing-backs getting on the scoresheet, Rovers attacking prowess down the flanks was clear to see.

“We want to play with aggressive wing-backs,” explained Cooper.

“We don’t want to play with five defenders, because we want to get assists and goals from our wide players and that’s what we got today.

“Nicky Cadden is like Hotshot Hamish, for those who remembers the comics. Every time he gets a sight of goal, he smashes the ball as hard as he can.

“I’d love to be a centre-forward with him in the team.”