Head coach Steve Cooper praised his team’s mentality as Nottingham Forest registered their first win of the season by beating Sheffield United 2-1.
Taiwo Awoniyi had given the Reds the lead inside five minutes at the City Ground. But after a bright start, the hosts tailed off and allowed their opponents into the game.
Gustavo Hamer equalised for the Blades after the break as Forest found themselves on the back foot. It was left to Chris Wood to come off the bench and bank the three points for the home side as Cooper’s substitutes made an impact.
The Welshman admitted memories of what happened in home defeats to Fulham and Bournemouth last season were at the forefront of his mind at one point. That his players were able to respond to a setback by claiming victory showed progress, however.
Steve Cooper said: “I’m not sure we win that game last season, at times – especially at the start of the season. There was a little bit of Fulham and Bournemouth in my head as the game was going on. Hopefully that’s a bit of growth in the mentality of the team. I really liked how we stuck to the task, because there was only one team that deserved to win. But at the same time, we took our foot off the gas and gave Sheffield United hope in the game – and when you do that, you can get punished. I’m glad we regrouped and did what we did in the last 30 or 40 minutes. It was a really important win. It’s always important to get your first win of the season; that was the main objective we wanted to get out of tonight. We started the game really well – not just because we scored. For 30 minutes I thought we were excellent. We were really dominant and played the real football in the game. We were good for the 1-0 lead, but if anything we should have been a little more ruthless in making it more comfortable than what it ended up being. I didn’t like the complacency that kicked into our game in the last 15 minutes of the half, with too much casual play and lack of concentration that seeped into our game. Half-time came at a good time to rev the lads up a bit. I hoped it wouldn’t have been the case, but that (complacency) seeped into the second half. We conceded some territory and they scored a good goal from a set-piece. But we regrouped and I thought the last 30 minutes of the game we were by far the superior team again. In saying that, we gifted them a massive chance. It was a pivotal save from Matt (Turner, to deny Benie Traore). But then we really took the game to try to win it. Of course we were by far the better team, of course we deserved to win, but I really liked the attitude of the team in terms of getting the result late on. It was a great impact from the subs. I’m really pleased for Woody to score a great goal.”
