Freedman & Mills On Bolton

Manager Dougie Freedman had warned ahead of the game at the weekend that with all of Bolton Wanderers’ problems they could be a wounded animal so seeing us take the game three nil on home soil having ‘treated the game properly’ in the preparation of the players, he was of course a happy man – even if he did look sadly upon the struggles of his former side.

With a bright start from the team, and advantage heading our way on a personnel front with their goalkeeper seeing red and reducing them to ten men, Freedman told the Official Forest Site in his post game press interviews that for him it had been a ‘fantastic performance’ but also a very professional display.

‘I`m very happy. It was a fantastic performance. I thought we moved the ball with great intensity and put on a very encouraging display. It was always going to be a difficult match but I think we treated the game properly and got the job done.’

With Nelson Oliveira opening the scoring through the 12th minute penalty, before Oliver Burke added a second, Jamie Ward completed the scoring and killed the game off completely with less than ten to play in the game, and with the goal capping his Man of the Match award from the game, he came in for praise from the gaffer as well.

‘Jamie Ward for me is the best free transfer out there. He gets goals, he`s infectious, he`s bubbly – and he showed today why he was one of the first signings I made in the summer. He`s all about the team. I think he`s a typical Nottingham Forest player – dropping into holes, getting it, giving it. I think the crowd appreciated his energy levels and the way he played the game today.’

Centre half Matt Mills was also interviewed after the game and whilst he acknowledged the oppositions attempts on the day to get back into the match even when reduced to ten men and a goal and then two behind, he felt that Forest’s approach to the game had been spot on and despite a few chances going their way, we were never in much danger – they did only manage one registered attempt on target.

‘To be fair to Bolton, I thought they worked tremendously hard to try and make a contest of it. But I thought we were very professional. We spoke this week about how when a team are down, you`ve got to try and keep them down with a quick start. When Wardy got through I thought he maybe took it a bit far but he`s so quick and he managed to get on the end of it. The keeper was committed, it was a red card and it made life a little bit easier.’

With a clear week after the hectic festive fixture schedule to prepare for the top of the table clash against Middlesbrough, Mills went on to say that the whole squad need to continue performing and doing their jobs to ensure the unbeaten run hits the 12 mark.

‘The mentality of this squad is one of the best I`ve seen. It`s impossible to play every game in the Championship. The manager rotated the squad over the Christmas period – a lot of people came in and played and everyone`s done their job. We stay unbeaten and it`s vital that we keep the squad ethic because you`re not going to achieve anything by thinking you can do it on your own.’