Steve Cooper hailed a “well-deserved win” for Nottingham Forest as they moved off the foot of the Premier League table by seeing off Crystal Palace 1-0 at the City Ground.
Morgan Gibbs-White made it two goals in two Premier League games in the second half, as he netted the rebound from a Brennan Johnson shot to clinch all three points for the Reds. And it ensured Cooper’s side will not be propping up the division during the World Cup break.
They had to survive a missed penalty from Wilfried Zaha in the first half, after Joe Worrall was penalised for pulling the Palace man back. But the hosts could have added to their tally, with Joe Worrall and Jesse Lingard both going close, meaning the Cooper fist-pumps were back after the final whistle.
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“The fist-pumps aren’t really something I want to do when you’re down at the bottom, but I just felt it was such a well-deserved win for the players and the supporters. And it was a nice bit of togetherness at the end of the game,” said the Welshman.
“I really, really wanted the supporters to be able to go into the break with a positive result. We got that. Nobody is getting carried away, of course - even though I might have for ten seconds!
“I just thought we were good for the win. We rode our luck a little bit with the penalty. Whether it’s a pen or not is something I’ll look back on. But Dean hasn’t had a save to make.
“They haven’t had a shot on target. We have. We created the real moments and chances in the game.
“The best team won, for sure. I’ve got a lot of respect for Patrick and how his teams play; they’ve got a lot of good players and it was a dangerous game. But we really stuck to the game-plan and what we thought it would take to win.”
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