Steve Cooper
Head coach Steve Cooper praised the character of his Nottingham Forest team as they came from behind to draw against Bournemouth. The Reds had fallen behind to Jaidon Anthony’s goal in the first half at the Vitality Stadium. But they rescued a point thanks to a late equaliser from substitute Sam Surridge. That goal was only Forest’s second on the road in the Premier League. And it made it three games unbeaten in all competitions for Cooper’s side, following a Carabao Cup win over Wolverhampton Wanderers and last weekend’s triumph over Leicester City.
Steve Cooper said: “In the end, a point was the least we deserved. I won’t deny we gave Bournemouth some moments in the first half that we shouldn’t have. They were self-inflicted – the goal included and free headers. I’m not looking and thinking we’ve been carved open and sometimes you have to hold your hands up. I’m looking at ourselves and going, we’ve got to do better than that. We gave a couple of silly moments away and found ourselves 1-0 down. But second half, I thought we were excellent. We more than deserved the point. We were by far the better team; the superior team technically and tactically. It was good we at least got something out of the game. You look at it and think, three games unbeaten, a point away from home having been 1-0 down, so a real good sign of togetherness and character. Results will always be the most important thing, but I’ve also got to look at how well we played in the second half away from home in the Premier League and think that’s a good sign of progression. We looked a good team – very comfortable at the level and superior. We’ll take the positives. We’ll look at the stuff we should do better at in the first half and we’ll move on with a point.”
