Head coach Steve Cooper reflected on “loads of pluses” as Nottingham Forest eased into the third round of the Carabao Cup with a comfortable 3-0 win at Grimsby Town.
A Ryan Yates thunderbolt and an excellent Sam Surridge brace saw the Reds triumph at Blundell Park. But Cooper was also pleased at being able to give a number of players debuts for the club.
The Welshman changed his entire XI from that which had lined up at Everton on Saturday. Summer signings Wayne Hennessey, Giulian Biancone, Cheikhou Kouyate, Remo Freuler and Emmanuel Dennis, along with teenager Aaron Donnelly, all started for the first time, while there were run-outs for youngsters Oli Hammond, Dale Taylor and 16-year-old Zach Abbott from off the bench.
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“I’m really pleased with the first half. Second half, we had to manage a bit of a bombardment, really,” Cooper said.
“I said to the lads, although we got through it, we could have managed some decision-making better early in the second half - we brought it on a little bit, when we didn’t need to. That was maybe a little bit of the inexperience in some areas of the team.
“But then we scored an excellent third goal, and it was just a matter of seeing it out. After the performance and the result, I’m just really pleased with a whole host of debuts - from Wayne, who has played a million games throughout his career, to Zach, who got on at 16 for his first ever appearance.
“All of those things are really good. It was great for the likes of Remo and Cheikhou to play and experience the away fans, who were brilliant, as usual. And it was brilliant for the young kids.
“I thought Aaron Donnelly was excellent. For his first game, he played like a man. We’re really proud of him and all the young players.
“It was a good performance and result. It was a cup tie; we want a winning mentality, we want to get through. But after that, it was brilliant to see those players involved. And brilliant to have Yatesy back on the pitch from the start as well. Loads of good pluses.
“There’s always an environment to play in and an opponent to play against, but you always want the game to look like us. And I thought first half, we did; I thought we were excellent with our in-possession play and pressed the game.
“There were three great finishes. Two from Sam and one from Yatesy.”
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