Nottingham Forest have had a taste of what it’s like to mix with Premier League company, and that has only fuelled their hunger to do so more often.
A run in the FA Cup has generated some magical nights Trentside, with Arsenal and then Leicester City sent packing.
But promotion remains the big goal, and winger Philip Zinckernagel is well aware that to achieve that the Reds must back up Sunday’s success with a result in the Championship.
Prior to their 4-1 mauling of the Foxes, Steve Cooper’s side had been beaten by Cardiff City. They are eager to avoid falling to a second straight league defeat at Blackburn Rovers on Wednesday night.
“The win kind of does show what we can do, but at the same time, we all know how tough the Championship is,” Zinckernagel told NottinghamshireLive after the weekend’s victory.
“The top six is open for everyone at the moment.
“It’s such a difficult league. We’ve got to keep our feet on the ground and keep working.
“We can take some positives from beating Leicester, but we’re not going into the upcoming games thinking we’re going to beat everyone. They are going to be different games.
“The Championship is tough. But these are the kind of games we want to play in. That’s why we’re trying to get into the top six and get promotion, because we want to play these kind of games every week.
“We’re in a good position. We had a bad start, as everyone knows. We’ve done really well in the last couple of months to get to where we are now, but there’s still a long way to go.
“There are so many competitive teams in the Championship. If you lose a couple of games, you can be a bit outside the top six. If you win some, you can suddenly be near the top.
“It’s such a difficult league, but it’s kind of enjoyable as well because every game matters.
“We’re looking forward to the upcoming weeks.”
Zinckernagel set the ball rolling for the hosts in the fourth round tie, opening the scoring in the 23rd minute, with goals from Brennan Johnson, Joe Worrall and Djed Spence following.
That sent a sold-out City Ground into raptures amid an electric atmosphere.
“It was amazing. What a night! A fantastic atmosphere, and we played so well. It was very enjoyable,” the Watford loanee added.
“We can take a lot of confidence from it, but we are just trying to focus on Wednesday’s game against Blackburn. We don’t want to win and then lose, we want to keep going.
“The game against Leicester is kind of like nothing if we go lose against Blackburn. We have to keep working hard.
“It’s always nice to score, especially in big games and at home. It was at the wrong end, but it’s always good to score at home.
“The fans were unbelievable. It was probably one of the loudest nights at the City Ground so far. Together with the Derby game, it was amazing.
“The fans are always really good, but that was special. It was a great atmosphere and good fun.”
