Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper was pleased with his side’s character as they twice came from behind to draw 2-2 with Everton. Cooper praised his team’s resilience, particularly coming on the back of last weekend’s dispiriting 4-0 collapse at West Ham United. And while disappointed with the goals conceded, the Reds nevertheless made it nine games unbeaten at home in the league. Brennan Johnson was the goalscoring hero, cancelling out a Demarai Gray penalty and an Abdoulaye Doucoure header. The stalemate keeps the gap between Forest and the 18th-placed Toffees at four points.
Steve Cooper said: “I think it was a game of moments. Some bits we’re disappointed with – the obvious one is the goals. The first goal is a consequence of not starting bright enough, in terms of being on the front foot and anticipation. The second goal should be a free-kick on Morgan (Gibbs-White) before it, that’s clear. But then we need to defend it better. There will be a lot of talk about the referee’s performance and things like that, but I’ll always look at stuff we should do better as well, and we have to do better on the two goals. I’m pleased with a few things. I’ll never shy away from anything, and what happened at West Ham last week can sometimes be a little bit damaging, so for us to show the character we did and, in the following game, to go down early and then again to go to 2-1, to show the resilience to stick to the plan and get something out of the game is good. We played well in the second half, no doubt about that. The game was played in their half. They did have some counterattacks, which was always going to be the case, but I was watching the game thinking, ‘I liked us’. We looked like the team with momentum. But then I was wondering if we were going to get chances. Aerially, it’s difficult because of the size of them. On the ground, it’s difficult because there’s so many bodies around their box. To end up getting a moment and scoring is great. But then walking off, the lads are disappointed we’ve not won. Given everything, I’m pleased with the attitude of the players. Some things we didn’t like, but some things we did. It was two teams having a go, but the referee has had too much involvement in the game, really.”
