Billy Glover’s early second-half goal made the difference as Forest Green Rovers advanced to the first round of the FA Youth Cup with a 1-0 win against Winchester City.

It was the hosts that had the majority of the chances in the opening 45 minutes of football, with the best going to Ciaran Wash, who couldn’t place a close-range header into the back of the net.

After continuous pressure, the deadlock was broken as Thomas Conteh’s dinked cross found Billy Glover, and his header from inside the six-yard box went by Sam Rollinson for the opener.

Ollie Trigg and Conteh both had chances for a second, but the one-goal advantage was enough for Rovers to move into the ‘Proper’ rounds of the competition.

Forest Green started the match the brighter of the two sides and had their first key chance when Conteh laid the ball off to Isaac Hughes, who had his initial shot stopped and then wasn’t able to find the net on the rebound either.

With 20 minutes gone in the tie, Stephen Walsh picked up the ball in midfield and drove at the Winchester defence before he played in Hughes, whose effort was tipped over the bar.

The pressure continued from the home side as Hughes, involved once again, clipped his free kick into Wash, but he was unable to direct his header on target.

Winchester’s first big opportunity of the match came when they had four quickfire efforts, including two from Wilf Hawes, which were all blocked by the Forest Green defence.

Just before the half-time whistle, Rovers had another chance to go ahead as Glover laid the ball back to Lewis Williams, who couldn’t keep his effort down.

Half-time: Forest Green 0-0 Winchester City

The breakthrough came in the 49th minute when Jacob Robinson’s ball squeezed through to Conteh, and he clipped his cross to the back post, where Glover was there to head home from close range.

It was Forest Green who remained in the ascendancy, with this time Trigg’s eventual strike being blocked after a brilliant run from midfield.

With twenty minutes left in the game, Conteh was so close to doubling the lead as his strike from the edge of the box cannoned off the bar.

Further pressure was applied when substitute Zemen Osawe found Conteh, and his low ball across the box looked set for Hughes. Still, the midfielder was unable to get anything on the delivery.

Winchester nearly levelled the clash when Cooper Wood managed to beat the last line of defence, only to force a huge save from Callum Godfrey.

In stoppage time, Rovers had another chance to finish off the match; however, it didn’t fall our way again, with Hughes’ shot hitting the post.

Full-time: Forest Green 1-0 Winchester City

Forest Green: Godfrey, Walsh, Conteh, Wash, Hughes, Campbell, Glover (Osawe 69), Trigg, Bifulco (Robinson 45), Stiles, Williams.

Subs not used: Connor, Hine, Badham, Rehmanwala, Lewis.

Winchester City: Rollinson, Elvin, Lane, Hawes, Chance, Cooper, Brown, Pugh, Vine, Henderson, McCulloch

Subs: Legg, Barnard, Wood, Rees, Chukwu, Chen, Cole.

Attendance: 149