Defender Ryan Inniss says Forest Green gave Mansfield Town a “real fight” following their narrow 1-0 defeat at the One Call Stadium.

Tom Nichols’ looping header was the difference between the two sides during Tuesday night’s clash, but Inniss saw many positive from his team during this defeat.

“It’s disappointing because we all know that every game is a six-pointer for us at the moment,” Inniss said.

“We came out and showed some real fight, even though they got the goal, we stayed in the game.

“We managed to create some good chances near the end but unfortunately we didn’t quite take them.”

Despite the slender defeat manager, Steve Cotterill, believed his side put on an “excellent” display and appeared further developed from the last encounter between the two sides which Inniss echoed.

“I have to agree with the gaffer [Cotterill], we’ve lost the game but if we can show that fight and create chances like we did tonight, we’ll look a better side in these last three games,” he said.

Inniss also praised his manager for his ability to instill the needed confidence back into the side in recent matches.

Rovers head into their final three League Two fixtures starting with a trip to Wrexham on Saturday where our defender hopes his team show the same fight again.

“We have come on leaps and bounds, which is something the gaffer has helped put in us but we have to keep that. It’s no good having it for this game and then not showing it next week in front of a big crowd at Wrexham,” he said.

Looking ahead to Saturday’s trip to Wales, Inniss has nothing but belief in his teammates to leave with a positive result but also hopes the fans will be out to back Rovers over the line.

“As long as we all give 110%, I think we can get a result. We’ve got the players, the confidence, we just have to keep believing.

“Hopefully the fans stick with us and travel in their numbers and then we can give them something to cheer,” Inniss said.

Rovers travel to the Racecourse Ground on Saturday for our League Two clash with Wrexham.