Jesse Lingard believes Nottingham Forest will now start to see the best of him, after the confidence-booster of bagging his first goal in the Garibaldi.
The former Manchester United man arrived with plenty of expectation on his shoulders when he made the move to the City Ground as a free agent in the summer. He has had something of a slow start to life for the Reds however, finding himself in and out of the team as he struggled to make the kind of impact he would have hoped for.
Lingard admits it has been tough. He is far from the only one among the Forest squad who has been striving to find top form. Progress has been steady, for individuals and as a collective, amid the challenges which came with 22 signings coming in during the transfer window and the club adapting to life in the top-flight after a 23-year absence.
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But the 29-year-old put in his best performance so far as Steve Cooper’s side dumped Tottenham Hotspur out of the Carabao Cup with an impressive 2-0 victory. Back in the starting XI after being on the bench at the weekend, Lingard headed past Fraser Forster in the second half to cap an all-round excellent contribution.
"It's massive to get the goal. It's been a long time coming,” he told NottinghamshireLive afterwards.
"I've not hit the heights that I wanted to as soon as I came here, but I've worked hard behind the scenes. Hard work gets you places. I was in the right place at the right time.
"It's just the start. It can be hard coming into a new team to gel. It's taken this long to finally settle in. It gives me a lot of confidence going into the next game.”
Renan Lodi had opened the scoring for the hosts. The only blot on the copybook was a red card for Orel Mangala with 15 minutes to go, as the midfielder picked up two yellow cards in quick succession.
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