Morgan Gibbs-White scored for the second successive Premier League game to clinch a crucial 1-0 victory for Nottingham Forest over Crystal Palace.
The summer signing netted the rebound from a Brennan Johnson shot in the second half to secure a big three points at the City Ground. The Reds needed a slice of luck, with Wilfried Zaha missing a penalty before the break after Joe Worrall was deemed to have pulled him back.
But Forest were thoroughly deserving of their win, and they could have added to their tally as Jesse Lingard and Worrall both went close. Palace, meanwhile, did not register a single effort on target.
READ MORE: How the Reds rated against Palace
READ MORE: Cooper delivers verdict on Forest's crucial victory over Palace
The result lifted Steve Cooper's side off the foot of the table going into the World Cup break. Here's what the Welshman had to say afterwards.
The fist pumps returned, so you must have enjoyed that?!
“The fist pumps aren’t really something I want to do when you’re down at the bottom, but I just felt it was such a well-deserved win for the players and the supporters. And it was a nice bit of togetherness at the end of the game.
“I really, really wanted the supporters to be able to go into the break with a positive result. We got that. Nobody is getting carried away, of course - even though I might have for 10 seconds!
“I just thought we were good for the win. We rode our luck a little bit with the penalty. Whether it’s a pen or not is something I’ll look back on. But Dean hasn’t had a save to make.
“They haven’t had a shot on target. We have. We created the real moments and chances in the game.
“The best team won, for sure. I’ve got a lot of respect for Patrick and how his teams play; they’ve got a lot of good players and it was a dangerous game. But we really stuck to the game-plan and what we thought it would take to win.”
What has been the difference since the Leicester game?
"We are having to do something that has never been done before. I haven’t spoken about it too much, because you want to keep the players engaged and you want to get ready for the next game.
"But there has never been this amount of turnaround in players, so they are having to deal with that. For me personally, a manager has never had to deal with what's gone on before. It will continue to be up and down, but I just think we are working really hard to try to find a way of competing, and hopefully then thriving in this league.
"I repeat the same thing every week, the attitude and commitment of the players has been brilliant. If you actually look at when we have had setbacks - when I say setbacks, I mean like really heavy results, the 4-0 at Leicester, for example - then we have always managed to show recovery. We drew the next game after Leicester. Arsenal, we then go draw-win-win. The Brentford game was a setback because of how we were treated, but the players then go into Spurs, play and win like we did, and the same with this one.
"That reassures me that we have got strength of character in the group, with individuals involved in that. And hopefully, committing to the break now and our work, and the process of time, we will become the team we have to become to succeed this season. That is a real motivation for me, because if we do succeed, we will do something that has never been done before.”
Has the break come at a good time or bad time?
"It was coming. I just think now we have won going into it, that was really important, because it does linger for a little bit when you go into an international break - I know this is a little bit different - when you have lost. We had that with the Fulham game, for example, with the international break before.
"That helps the first part of the break, for sure. Good or bad time, it doesn't matter, it is here and we've put a plan together, which we are committing to.
"It includes a little bit of time away from each other at the start. I think that is important, to get away from each other, to reflect and recover and think through what has gone on.
"But then we have got to get back in and make the break a really hard-working and productive one. We have got a real plan of that, with the programme and the games; the periodisation of it all, both on and off the pitch.
"We have really thoroughly thought it through, so we look forward to committing to that now. Because, for sure, we have to be better in the next part of the season than we were in the first part, in terms of the points tally.”
How difficult was your team selection for this one, after Wednesday night?
"It is always difficult. We always look at what we think the game-plan should be, then you try to pick the right team for it, but the added part of the plan for this one was we had to take in some of the things that went on on Wednesday night.
"In life, when you do something well, you want to do it again quickly. I just felt that with the centre-backs and the likes of Renan and Jesse, they needed to go again, because they probably hadn't come down from Wednesday night - and that's the best time to go again, and they did, no doubt about that.
"But then at the same time, we also knew we needed other players in certain positions to commit to the plan we thought was the right one to win the game. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.
"As pleasing for me is that the lads who didn't start the game have probably been the most vocal in the dressing room. I like that.”
How important was it to go into the break not bottom of the table?
"Whatever happened, it was never going to be a great league position, let's be honest. But it could have been worse, so that's pleasing.
"It just allows us to go into the break not suffering after a defeat. It allows us to enjoy some time away and think about what it is going to take to do well going forward. But then we need to get back together and work as hard as we can to make the break a productive one.”
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