By NFFC

Steve Cooper praised his side for sticking to the game plan as Forest returned to winning ways against Aston Villa on Sunday afternoon.

The Reds scored early goals in either half courtesy of Ola Aina and Orel Mangala before holding on to keep a clean sheet against an in-form Villa side.

The Forest Head Coach spoke to Forest TV after the game to express his delight at the performance, praising his side's work off the ball in particular.

“I felt we were good for the win," he said.

“Villa had a lot of the ball, they never really peppered our goal, but they’re one of the in-form teams in the league. You see where they are, the players they’ve signed and who the manager is, you know you’re coming up against a really good team.

“I thought our goals were excellent in terms of the moves. For Orel to get in that area, it’s a great strike for the second goal, and the move that led to the first goal is excellent and something we worked on in terms of getting into that area, you just want the talent to take over and for them to believe in themselves.

“There’s a lot that goes on tactically against Villa in the way they play with their box in midfield. You really have to match it, because if you don’t, they can hurt you, but tactically without the ball we were absolutely brilliant.

“There were some brilliant individual performances and there’s a lot of gratitude from me to them for sticking to the plan.”