Forest Green Rovers suffered a first derby-day defeat since the 1990s, as they lost 2-1 to Cheltenham Town.

Will Boyle headed Cheltenham into the lead before the break, Andy Williams doubling the hosts advantage in the second half.

A tremendous spell FGR pressure clawed them back into the game by means of an Aaron Collins penalty, but it wasn’t enough to salvage a point.

Mark Cooper initially made two changes to the side that beat Grimsby Town on Tuesday night, with Dan Sweeney and Ebou Adams returning to the side in place of Odin Bailey and Elliott Whitehouse, but an injury in the warm-up meant Jordan Moore-Taylor also started.

Meanwhile, Kane Wilson made his long-awaited return to the bench.

The first real chance of the game fell the way of the hosts, and it handed them the lead.

A long throw into the area was met by Boyle, who planted a header firmly into the ground and across the line. There were fervent appeals from the Rovers backline, but to no avail.

Rovers quickly looked to find their feet in the encounter through Jake Young, the forward seeing his volley from the edge of the area blocked by a crowd of bodies.

The away side then had Luke McGee to thank after 22 minutes, as he pulled off a brilliant stop to deny Williams from close range as the striker ghosted in at the back post to head goalwards.

As the game began to open up, Josh Griffiths was called upon in the other goal as he needed avery inch of his frame to claw away Jamille Matt’s header.

The ball almost dropped kindly for Matt again moments later as Young saw his effort deflected, but it just ran away from the Jamaican striker.

Rovers best chance of the opening half hour came with 28 minutes on the clock, as Young let Udoka Godwin-Malife’s cut-back run for Adams, who fired over with his left foot from the edge of the box.

Mark Cooper’s men strapped themselves firmly into the driving seat at the start of the second half, but with Cheltenham sitting deep it was their swift counter-attack that found the next goal.

After a turnover in midfield, Williams was played through on goal and made no mistake, finishing at the near post.

Scott Wagstaff’s cross almost snuck in at the far post with 20 minutes to play, but it curled just wide with Matt and Adams throwing themselves at it.

Liam Kitching slid substitute Collins through on a tight angle just moments later, but his left-footed effort smashed into the side netting.

Rovers spell of high pressure continued, and it finally paid off after 73 minutes.

Wagstaff went to strike a loose ball in the area and was fouled, Collins making no mistake from th spot as he smashed into the bottom corner.

Kitching needed to be on his toes to kill off a Robins counter-attack with less than 10 minutes to play, putting in a great challenge on Andy Williams as he broke free down the right.

Bailey was again involved as Rovers pushed for a late equaliser, flashing a half-volley wide from outside the area.

Referee: Graham Salisbury

Cheltenham Town XI: Griffiths, Raglan, Tozer (c), Boyle, Hussey, Thomas, Clements, Sercome, May (Chapman 74’), Williams, Reid (Addai 60’)

Unused subs: Harris, Blair, Freestone, Horton, Sang

Forest Green XI: McGee, Sweeney (Collins 56’), Stokes (Wilson 67’), Kitching, Winchester (c), Adams, Matt, Moore-Taylor, Young (Bailey 60’), Wagstaff, Godwin-Malife

Unused subs: Thomas, Stevens, Whitehouse