Hannah Dingley insists her appointment as caretaker Forest Green head coach is no gimmick.

Dingley, the first woman to take charge of an English Football League club, oversaw her opening game on Wednesday as Forest Green began their pre-season campaign.

“It’s the first and it’s great, but I don’t want to be the only,” said Dingley, Rovers’ academy chief who has spent four years at the Gloucestershire club and was put in interim charge after Duncan Ferguson’s brief reign came to an end.

“It’s slightly disappointing that as the first academy manager – the only academy manager – because we need more females in these positions in clubs. If we can get more females in the boys’ system in academies this will happen more and more.

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