Warren Joyce reflected on a significant win which saw his side take home a 3-2 victory over Sparta Prague on Monday night and was pleased with how his team displayed a fighting spirit to secure the three points.
Forward Jack Nadin scored the winning goal in Forest's fourth Premier League International Cup group stage fixture, and Joyce was confident Forest dominated the game.
“I thought the first half we dominated the game with and without the ball," he said. "The pressing was good, good value for the goals, good movements for the goals and maybe we could have scored more opportunities.
“They raised their game a little bit more in the second half and we were a bit flustered but after that I thought we started to get back on the ball again, started to play good football and in the end, we were good value for the win.”
The Sparta Prague win made it two wins on the bounce, and Forest’s courage and fight are what keeps the manager pleased with his team’s performance following his encouragement.
“That’s the pleasing thing to see tonight, it is a test, it is a challenge, it’s a shift of momentum from being 2-0 up and being comfortable in the game.
"To get it back to two, there’s a shift there and I’ve got to look for them to be leaders on the pitch as well. So, you look around to see who wants to be brave enough to keep taking the ball.
“I keep trying to do the right things as a coach and make sure the players play to the game plan with and without the ball and we slowly managed to do that again and started to dominate on the ball. Then we send them into better areas so we could take the ball off them.”
Forest hope to maintain winning ways after winning back-to-back games with the attention now turning to Derby County in the league on Monday night.
“To prepare, we do the same things for whoever we play. We try to come up with a plan to how to dominate the opposition with the ball and then look at the strengths of the opposition and try to come up with a plan of dominating them when they’ve got the ball.
“We try to send them into areas where we can take the ball of them and catch them high up the pitch and hopefully creating opportunities for winning the ball back early.”