Head coach Steve Cooper hailed an “excellent” performance by Jesse Lingard as Nottingham Forest sealed their place in the next round of the Carabao Cup.
The former Manchester United man capped his best game for the Reds since his summer move by netting his first goal for the club. Fellow summer signing Renan Lodi did likewise as Tottenham Hotspur were downed 2-0 at the City Ground.
Both goalscorers had come back into the XI as Cooper made nine changes to the side which had started Saturday’s 2-2 draw against Brentford. And they contributed to an excellent team display which saw the hosts create plenty of opportunities - the only blot on their copybook being a late red card for midfielder Orel Mangala following a second bookable offence.
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“I thought he was excellent. He scored one with his head and could have scored another with his head,” Cooper said of Lingard.
“I thought his positional play was good. He took up the spaces and found the spaces really well.
“And, more importantly, he did what you want your attacking players to do - you want them to be a threat and have end product. He did that, not just with the goal, but some of his final passes and link-up play was really good, too. I’m really pleased with him tonight, as I am with everybody else.
“What pleased me most was the fact we played well with the ball but made it count by getting the goals and creating chances. There have been moments in games where we have played like that and been a threat but we haven’t made it count by getting the goals - like the first half against Brentford.
“I’m just pleased that for all of our commitment to our play and commitment to the game-plan, that we worked hard to create the opportunities and we made it count by getting the two goals. The other obvious pleasing factor is that some players who haven’t played for a while have played, they were fit, got the 90 minutes and played at a really good level.
“It’s a really pleasing night. But, as I have reminded the players, we’ve got an important day of preparation tomorrow, followed by another on Friday, before we play again on Saturday.”
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