Jack Nolan’s first half penalty secured Accrington Stanley a win against bottom club Forest Green Rovers and pushed the Reds back towards the Play-Off places.

The three points took Stanley into tenth place in League Two, three points away from the top seven.

Manchester United keeper Rodak Vitek made his Stanley debut while Jay Rich-Baghuelou returned to the Reds squad after injury, on the bench.

Forest Green, with Steve Cotterill in charge for his first game, had the early pressure without testing Vitek and it was Stanley who took the lead on 22 minutes.

Ryan Inniss brought down Alex Henderson in the penalty box and Nolan rifled the ball straight down the middle from the spot for his ninth goal of the season.

Just after, Nolan whipped in a cross which tested keeper Luke Daniels while Vitek dived low to keep out a Callum Jones strike from distance.

Emmanuel Osadebe rifled across goal and wide and Rovers forced a number of corners towards the end of the first half which, thankfully for the Reds, came to nothing.

At the start of the second half, Osadebe had an early chance but couldn’t find the target from close range while Lewis Shipley fired wide at the other end.

Seamus Conneely and Rich-Baghuelou came on on 53 minutes as John Coleman shuffled his pack.

Rovers continued to press for the equaliser, putting a number of balls into the Stanley box but Vitek was equal to them.

Matt Stevens slid in at the near post but Joe Gubbins did enough to put him off as Rovers looked the more threatening after the break without really testing debutant Vitek.

Shots on target were limited but Stanley held on for their first away win since October.

Stanley: Vitek, Shipley, Hills, Gubbins, O’Brien, Martin, B Woods, Pritchard, Nolan (Rich-Baghuelou), Henderson (Conneely), J Woods

Subs: McIntyre, Mellor, Quirk, Adekoya, Trickett

Yellow: Hills, Martin, Rich-Baghuelou, B Woods, Conneely

Crowd: (125)