By Martin Walker

Mark Cooper hasn't pulled any punches since his appointment in the summer, and this week is no exception.

Even though the Quakers boss left his assistant Richard Dryden to do the talking after last Saturday's draw against nine-man Eastbourne Borough, it wasn't because he was lost for words, far from it.

He wanted to calm down before he passed judgement, but Cooper is only just calming down after forcing his players watch a DVD of the match over and over again and train twice every day of this week as they prepare for tomorrow's game at home to Forest Green Rovers.

"I've calmed down but I haven't got over it, I don't think I ever will if I'm honest," said Cooper.

"It's probably the most embarrassing day of my coaching or managerial career to date.

"It's been a horrible week and one that I don't want to happen again.

"So we've been trying to do everything we can to make sure it doesn't. We've been trying to get people wanting to score goals and if that means them getting three stitches or a broken nose then so be it.

"If you put 21 crosses in, in any game of football, and only score one goal, it doesn't take a genius to work out where the problem is.

"I was scratching my head and at one point thought 'Well what more can you do?'.

"We changed the shape, we changed the personnel, put two wingers on, got loads of crosses in the box and still didn't score against a 5ft 8in goalkeeper who's an outfield player.

"We've been working all week to try and out that right, we've shown the players the video of the game numerous times and it's been a long week for them.

"In training they've responded well but you don't get any prizes for training, you get them for 3 o'clock on a Saturday afternoon and quarter to 8 on a Tuesday night, so we'll find out on Saturday."