Nottingham Forest’s fighting spirit was on display at the weekend as they snatched a last-minute 2-2 draw against Stoke City.
Reduced to 10 men, following the sending off of Brice Samba, substitute Ryan Yates headed home in stoppage time to rescue a point.
Steve Cooper’s side may have dropped out of the play-off places, but there is still plenty of cause for optimism at the City Ground ahead of Friday night’s big clash at Bournemouth.
Reds reporter Sarah Clapson reflected on the latest goings-on with club legend Garry Birtles and Forza Garibaldi’s Greg Mitchell.
Here’s a look at how it panned out. You can watch the episode in full, here.
Q: Was a point a good result in the end on Saturday?
GM: Absolutely. After the carnage of the last 10 minutes, a point was a brilliant result. You walked out of there wanting to hear Depeche Mode playing.
It felt like a win.
At the start of the game, it would have been disappointing to get the draw. But after everything that went on, you’d snap their hands off for that. With 10 men, they did ever so well to get it.
GB: You have to put it in perspective a bit. If you go back six months, there’s no way we would have got a point out of that game.
The resilience and belief that Steve has instilled in the squad was evident again.
It’s that never-say-die attitude which can get us in the play-offs and put a bit of pressure on the teams already in there.
You have to give the opposition credit. They did their homework on us and stopped our key players having an impact on the game.
You also have to give us credit for hanging in there with 10 men, because Stoke must have thought they’d won it.
GM: The Samba incident did change the game, not only with the sending off but with the penalty as well.
It just shows how important players like Yates are for us. He’s vital for us now.
The thing with Samba is, it’s such a fine line between genius and insanity. I think Stoke did their homework on him.
He made a stupid error. Phil Jagielka goes down so easily, but you can’t do that.
Q: Would you lose something from Samba’s game if you tried to tone down his antics?
GM: He’s got to rein it in. But I’m not so sure he can.
He’s the best keeper I’ve seen since Mark Crossley. He’s a brilliant shot-stopper and plays the modern way, like an 11th outfield player at times.
But he was going to cost us, and he has cost us.
He’s brilliant at managing time. But all the referees know about it.
It was just stupid to give the referee the opportunity to send him off.
Take that away from his game, is he going to change?
As good as he is, Cooper might decide in the summer that he’s a liability and he’s cost us games.
It gives Jordan Smith or Ethan Horvath a brilliant opportunity in the next few games. Who knows, Samba might find it tough to get back in.
He’ll certainly learn his lesson - and he’s got to.
GB: We saw both sides of what he can do in that game. He made some brilliant saves, probably kept us in the game at times, and then that moment which could have cost us the game.
Cut that last one out, because you are one of the best keepers in the league, without a doubt.
If he can get that right then we’ve still got a fantastic goalkeeper there.
Q: How do you feel about Ethan Horvath being in goal against Bournemouth on Friday?
Bournemouth are such a good team, so he is going to have to be on top of his game. But I’m sure he can’t wait to get out there.
For me, it’s not an issue him playing. I’m confident. I think he’ll do alright.
Q: Should Ryan Yates come back into the team on Friday?
GB: I would expect to see him start, without a doubt. You can see how important he is to the team.
It’s not going to be an easy game. Maybe resilience is going to be top of the order, and you have two resilient midfield players in respect of that.
When you have a back three of Joe Worrall, Scott McKenna and Steve Cook, it gives you even more confidence away from home.
Q: What have you made of Sam Surridge so far?
GB: It’s never easy coming off the bench and trying to make an impact in a game.
Keinan Davis has picked up the mantle really well. Even when he’s struggling, he’s still a massive threat. He’s difficult to mark, he’ll back into the centre-backs, he’s a target, he’s an outlet and he can only improve.
We need the likes of Davis and Surridge between now and the end of the season. And then if/when Lewis Grabban comes back, we’ll have a fresh goalscorer for a vital period.
GM: What an impact Surridge made on Saturday! The ball he played to Max Lowe was superb.
He showed good signs against Blackburn as well.
He’s a really good impact player.
He didn’t half shut Stoke’s fans up as well. I thought he was superb.
He is that perfect impact player, and he might be the difference on Friday again. You can see him coming on with 20 minutes to go and doing something.
He’s been an excellent signing so far.
Q: What do you make of the Forest squad?
GM: You feel like this is a once-in-a-generation squad for Forest.
You look back at the Billy Davies play-off squad and think how good they were; you look back and think, ‘how did we not get promoted?’.
I feel with this squad, it’s even better.
As long as we get in the play-offs, I think we’re going to have such a good chance.
Every week there’s 12 or 13 in the squad who could get man of the match.
We’ve just got to keep this momentum up.
That last-minute goal epitomises where this squad is at the minute and the fight they’ve got.
