Former Ireland U-21 goalkeeper Dan Connor leads Forest Green to point after taking over from Troy Deeney

Connor, the club’s goalkeeping coach, was asked to take charge of the side as caretaker for Saturday’s league game away to Gillingham, after a hectic few days which saw Forest Green sack manager Troy Deeney off the back of controversial comments and behaviour.

Last month Deeney was given a four-game ban by the FA for abusive and violent language towards officials, and then drew flak for scathing comments he made about his own players, especially Fankaty Dabo.

Deeney said the squad had ��too many babies” and singled out Dabo, claiming “any time the ball comes to him, he looks like he kicks it with his shin pads” and added, “Dabo was poor and awful again, he has not been good enough for eight or nine weeks, why do you think he was dropped”.

The club axed Deeney last week after only six games and promoted Connor as interim coach for their weekend trip to Gillingham, and while he earned praise for an away draw in his first game, he was unsure how long he will have the position.

“Jose (Mourinho) in the helicopter maybe? I don’t know, I don’t know what goes on," Connor said when asked who would be in charge this week.

“I think that getting to this time today [Saturday] was my only objective. This time today with a point, or this time today with three points, that was the only thing that I was thinking of, basically I will do as I am told.

“I think there were plenty of moments within the game where we thought we are showing more than what our current position would suggest, it wasn’t without its bruises, we were fortunate in some moments.”

Connor said part of his role was to clear the air with Dabo, the player most hurt by Deeney’s comments. “I had a couple of conversations with him about whether he wanted to be involved this weekend with what has gone on, was he ready to play if we needed him to play and he said that he was,” Connor said.

“I trust him as a bloke and as a professional and then you put him out there and then hope that he does his job first and foremost, and then if he adds a little bit of flair or a bit of creativity.”

Connor (42) had a spell in England with Peterborough United as a player but had the best spell of his career in Ireland, winning five major trophies including a Premier Division title in 2007.

He lined out for Waterford United, Drogheda United, Cork City and St Patrick’s Athletic before a return to Britain in 2010 with Hereford United and has since worked as goalkeeping coach with Hereford, Shrewsbury, Wigan and Forest Green while he also had a spell as goalkeeper coach with the Ireland U-21s.