STEVE COTTERILL was pleased after Forest Green Rovers took first place from York City on Saturday.

A 2-0 victory saw Forest Green leapfrog York in the National League table, with the home side now the leaders in the fifth tier.

Cotterill discussed a first-half performance that he was disappointed by, but admitted that he was happy with Forest Green's response in the second-half that led to three points.

"An enjoyable great win," Cotterill told the media team.

"I thought that in the second-half, we were the better team.

"In the first-half we were slightly passive, I have to be honest, I was slightly disappointed with our first-half performance.

"I thought that we didn't do the things that we have been doing in most of the games recently, but with that, we're playing against York City who are top of the table and are a good team.

"Maybe that threw us for a little bit.

"I just felt that we were slow out of the traps in the first-half, but that might be down to them being a good team.

"We have to be very respectful of that.

"In the second-half we were strong, we were powerful, we maybe could have scored another goal or two.

"If someone would have given me the scoreline that it ended in at the end of the game, I would have taken that."

Cotterill was impressed by the standard of finishing on show from his Forest Green side, after Harvey Bunker had opened the scoring with a precise strike, before Kyle McAllister had curled home a strong finish past Harrison Male.

The Forest Green boss also refused to comment too much on the two disallowed goals for the home side.

"They were great finishes, and we maybe could have had another one or two as well.

"We got ourselves into some great passes, I thought our crowd was great tonight.

"I would say to them to please don't just turn up because we're playing a team that is top of the table, we need you in them other games when we're playing teams that are not top of the table.

"I haven't seen them [the disallowed goals] back, but one looks really close to me, and the other one was probably offside.

"I haven't seen them back, so I don't want to answer that one where I might not be correct with."

Forest Green managed to secure the three points despite not having their manager on the touchline, with Cotterill serving the second of his two-match suspension.

"I can leave the club tonight!" The boss laughed.

"We did a lot of things that we did in training, I didn't have a touchline ban in training and turned up, so we did a little bit of that.

"It's been difficult for me, maybe in the first-half I would have been able to get to them a little bit quicker.

"I am delighted for my staff, I thought they were great."