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Nottingham Post
Nottingham Post
Sport
Sarah Clapson

The dilemma Steve Cooper 'slept on' before Nottingham Forest win over Birmingham City

Boss Steve Cooper admitted he had a tough decision to make prior to Nottingham Forest's victory over Birmingham City.

The Welshman named an unchanged starting XI for the third game in a row. And he got the same end result, with the Reds making it nine points from nine since returning from the international break as they triumphed 2-0 at the City Ground.

Keinan Davis and Scott McKenna found the net against the Blues to make it a perfect week for Forest. The result made it 10 league games unbeaten and saw the club climb to third in the Championship table.

Read more: How the Reds rated against Birmingham

Read more: Re-live the action from the City Ground

But Cooper faced a selection dilemma beforehand, having seen Joe Lolley, Sam Surridge and a fit-again Lewis Grabban impress from off the bench against both Blackpool and Coventry City. The trio did the same again in Saturday’s win, leaving Cooper with another decision to make for next week's trip to Luton Town.

"I toyed with whether to make changes, because of it being a three-game week," he said. "The Stoke game (a 2-2 draw in February) was in my head a little bit, because we didn't play so well that day and that was a three-game week.

"But I decided to go with momentum. I decided to go with connections on the pitch at this particular time. I don't know whether it proved to be right, but we certainly got the result we needed.

"It was tough. It was a dilemma.

"At the start of the week, I thought I would make changes at some stage. And probably, if it had gone well, it would have been this one.

"But I slept on it and decided to go with momentum. It's worked in terms of the result. The performance was, in general, good but could have been better at times.

"We've got the points. We've got a strong squad. Everyone is fit and able. We move on."

What did you make of Forest's performance? Have your say in the comments below

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