Calderwood Praises Reds

Nottingham Forest boss Colin Calderwood praised the ‘character and resilience’ of his players after they came from behind to register another emphatic victory, 3-1 over Millwall.

He enthused: ‘We pressed and persevered and everyone could see that the players gave their maximum with their heads and their hearts.

‘There’s no doubt we had an untidy start to the game by giving Millwall an early lead but the good thing is that we had a fantastic finish.

‘We gave Millwall legs and inspiration by conceding an early goal and it is always difficult being the home side when you give a visiting team something to cling onto.

‘But we got ourselves back into the match and from the minute we got our equaliser we seemed to move onto another level. We were in a zone and with the momentum from the fans behind us as well we turned what was a bleak situation at half-time into the super result.

‘The players have given their hearts and souls so far this season – and it showed again.’

Millwall manager Willie Donachie must have thought he was on the way to a shock result in his first game in permanent charge when Ben May capitalised on a mistake by Danny Cullip to give the visitors a fourth minute lead.

It almost got even better for Millwall when skipper Paul Robinson saw his 22nd-minute header hit the bar from Alan Dunne’s corner. But Forest turned the game on its head within a minute midway through the second half.

Junior Agogo pounced on hesitancy by Mark Phillips to thump home a volley and equalise in the 65th minute.

Within 60 seconds James Perch’s header from Kris Commons’ cross went over the line despite Phillips attempts to hack it clear.

And Forest’s rousing comeback was confirmed in the 82nd minute when skipper Ian Breckin headed home a near-post corner by Nicky Southall.

Said Donachie: ‘I was confident we could get a result and the players tried their best at the start and throughout the first half but unfortunately we could not sustain it.

‘The players gave everything they could in the first half but the pressure told and there’s two or three lads who were not strong enough mentally and you can’t carry players like that when you are up against a side at the top of the table.

‘You get found out and we discovered what the standard is at the top of the table. We feel is if we are getting better but Forest showed us what we have to emulate.

‘It might have been different if we had been able to add a second goal in the first half but that’s all `ifs’ and `buts’ and at the end of the day we were beaten by a better team.’