“Look at him smiling,” teased Steve Cooper as Keinan Davis headed over for his post-match interviews.
And the Nottingham Forest boss was right. Fresh from a superb brace, Davis wore the biggest of grins as he walked down the City Ground touchline.
He was full of joy when speaking to the media, too. Talking about how much he is “loving” his loan spell; how he is enjoying playing regular football. All while beaming from ear to ear.
There was a lot of that on Saturday. A lot of smiles. The whole place is filled with exuberance again.
That was reflected in a fine second half in which the Reds just blew Reading away, racing to an emphatic 4-0 win.
They were four excellent goals, as well. Davis took his brilliantly to cap another outstanding performance. But the finishes from new-found goal-machine Ryan Yates and substitute Sam Surridge were just as good.
Eleven games to go. Two points off the top-six… Strap yourselves in, the run-in promises to be quite a ride.
Double delight
Davis departed to a standing ovation and the home crowd chanting ‘sign him up’ when he was substituted with 70 minutes gone.
It would certainly be a wise move on Forest’s part if they can.
The Aston Villa loanee has been terrific since making the switch in January.
He arrived with something of a question mark over whether he could score enough goals, having not exactly been prolific for his parent club. But he’s shown he’s got a heck of a finish on him.
And while he still might not have scored quite as many as he would have liked so far, the front man’s overall contribution is immense. He has defenders quaking - and creaking - when he has the ball.
Working with Lewis Grabban is paying off, too. The veteran forward is still sidelined with injury, but he has been acting as a mentor to his teammate in the meantime.
"Out of all of the goals, probably the one which really pleases me is Keinan's first, because of where he is,” Cooper said. “We've been doing a lot of work with him - and Grabbs has been doing a lot of work with him as well - about that instinct in the box.
"Lewis has got that know-how.
"The first thing Keinan said to me afterwards was, 'Grabbs' about the first goal."
Joe Worrall had started the move, playing in Djed Spence with a cute pass. The cross was delivered into the box, where Davis took a deft touch, spun and fired home. All with less than 20 seconds on the clock.
His second was pretty special, too. Another lovely ball from Worrall set him on his way, with his strength, pace and power inflicting maximum damage as he tore forwards and lashed in the strike.
Goals, goals, goals
With Grabban hoping to be back involved not long after the upcoming international break, Cooper could soon have another selection dilemma on his hands.
There’s already fierce competition between Davis and Surridge up front.
The latter did really well on his first start in the Garibaldi on Monday night, and he made it two in two with an exquisite finish against the Royals.
A picture of him holding up four fingers behind his back as he swept the ball in to make it 4-0 was doing the rounds on social media on Saturday night. It was no doubt just instinct, but it was uncanny nonetheless.
Like Davis, he hadn’t enjoyed the best of times before linking up with Forest. Cooper has worked wonders with the pair of them, though - with the potential for plenty of improvement still to come.
Add Grabban into the mix and the Reds will have three very different strikers on their hands for the last stretch of the campaign. But all capable of scoring goals.
So too, can Yates. A remarkable purple patch continued with a rocket from range. Three successive games in which the midfielder has found the net now. With seven for the campaign, he’s close to matching his career-best eight from 2017/18, when he was on loan at Notts County and Scunthorpe United.
You’d bet on him surpassing that tally, and maybe even making double-figures at this rate.
The more players who can keep chipping in with goals, the better, at this stage.
Injury woes
The only downer on an otherwise really enjoyable afternoon was a couple of injury concerns to key players. Steve Cook’s is particularly worrisome.
The centre-back has been a rock since putting pen to paper in January, proving to be a fantastic signing and a great influence in the dressing room. He’s been a big reason why a three-man defence has worked so well.
Losing him for any length of time, at such a crucial juncture, would be a huge blow.
Typical of the man, Cook didn’t want to be carried off on a stretcher after injuring his ankle in the final minutes. One had been brought on to the pitch, but he clearly wanted to go off on his own feet (sort of). He needed a lot of support to make it down the tunnel, but had the fans singing his name as he went.
Max Lowe, meanwhile, had been forced off in the first half with a groin problem. The hope is it isn’t a repeat of what happened the last time against Reading, when he was absent for the next two months - a groin issue keeping him out then, too.
Cooper was hopeful it was more down to fatigue on this occasion, though, with the Sheffield United loanee having been suffering with illness prior to the FA Cup clash with Huddersfield Town.
Still, just when the Forest boss must have been hoping he might be at full-strength for the final weeks, with Grabban nearing a return, he’ll have been left crossing fingers for good news on two other players.
Big week ahead
A significant chunk of the first half aside - when the hosts lost their way after that early breakthrough - it was a good team display on Saturday, full of important contributions all over the pitch. And from the substitutes, too. Xande Silva teed up Surridge, while Cafu played like a man possessed, celebrating the goals as much as anyone in the stands.
Reading didn’t exactly provide a stern test. They were poor. The Reds really only had themselves to blame for almost giving their visitors a sniff of a way back into the game before the break. They’d have been absolutely kicking themselves if the Royals had.
However, the coming week will be a different kettle of fish entirely.
QPR under the lights Trentside on Wednesday night is massive. A six-pointer.
Then it is Liverpool on Sunday, in the final match before the international break.
A big week calls for some big performances. Forest have plenty of players capable of stepping up to that mark. They just have to show it.
