FOREST GREEN players left Braintree with the proverbial flea in the ear after boss Mark Cooper read the riot act.

Cooper must have made the paint peel off the Braintree Town dressing room walls as he laid into his side like a bulldog chewing a wasp for an unacceptable second-half performance, despite a Keanu Marsh-Brown howitzer making it back-to-back 1-0 wins for the title-chasing side.

Rovers had bossed the first-half, but faded miserably after the break.

They were indebted to a Sam Russell penalty save to seal what, surprisingly given the first half performance, transpired to be a hard-fought three-points.

In an open and frank post-match interview, Cooper was spitting feathers as he revealed he was contemplating a Sunday training session, but his displeasure eased off on the journey home from Essex and the squad were handed a reprieve.

“We should be talking about an amazing first half performance that should have led to a score line that had been irretrievable for Braintree, but we are not because the second half performance was rubbish,” said Cooper.

He also felt that his team needed to take a reality check after the match went from the sublime to the ridiculous.

He added: “The danger is, when you become so dominant, players start thinking they are playing for Brazil or Real Madrid, start to believe the hype and make ridiculous mistakes and that changes the actual flow of the game – and that is why we ended up being indebted to our goalkeeper for saving a penalty.

“ We should have had a penalty, which the referee admitted at half-time he cocked-up - and he gives a dubious one to them, which doesn’t make any sense.

“We are non-league players - don’t think you are Ronaldo and try and walk it in the net and when the ball is on the six-yard line just put the ball in the net, head it in, kick it in, hit it with your backside if you must, but don’t think you are Ronaldo - and that caused us an uncomfortable 45 minutes.”

And uncharacteristic errors helped Braintree gain the initiative, according to Cooper.

He said: “One mistake turned the whole game – Charlie Clough tried to take a centre forward on the edge of his own box and they end up running and nearly scoring and from then Braintree got a little bit of belief and we sank. The team have been made aware that I’m not happy with the second half performance, and I won’t put up with that from the squad of players we have got.”

Even captain Liam Noble, outstanding in the first 45 minutes, received a tongue-lashing from his perplexed boss. He added: “ It means nothing, 45 minutes. The game is 95 minutes today and in the second- half he (Liam Noble) could have got sent off, because he got involved with the referee and would have put another blot on his copy book - and that’s why I brought him off.

“As pleased as I am with three points, I won’t be jumping through hoops - and I will be looking at the DVD and thinking why on earth we went like we did in the second half.”