Ryan Yates says Nottingham Forest are showing why they "belong" in the Premier League, following their display against Everton.
The sides played out a 1-1 draw at Goodison Park as Brennan Johnson's late strike appeared to have sealed all three points, but ultimately Steve Cooper's men had to settle for a point after Demarai Gray's equaliser. Yates made his top-flight debut, returning from injury as he replaced Orel Mangala in the second half.
Speaking to Forest TV and BBC Radio Nottingham, he said: "It's a great feeling now. Still just gutted about the result but looking back in a few hours time, I'll be really pleased to make my debut in the Premier [League].
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"We are all really, really disappointed, not with the performance. Spells in the first and second half we played some really good football. We opened the game up and created really, really good chances. I've just got an overriding feeling that we've dropped two points, especially scoring so late on."
With the Reds collecting four points from the three opening games, the 25-year-old stated: "This is where we belong and I think we're showing that. We're very new to it all but we're taking our stride and hopefully more and more good performances to come.
"Only our performances can show the supporters and everyone at home that we do deserve to belong here and four points isn't the worst at all and something we can definitely build on. We're really positive about the performance and things we've got to learn from.
"We're striving for bigger and better things, it's great [to come on] but I just want the team to play well, I'm glad I've come on and made an impact but we need to be picking up three points especially when we play well like that."
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