Morgan Gibbs-White hailed Nottingham Forest's fighting spirit against Leeds United after winning his own battle to be fit for the for 1-0 win.
The forward was forced to sit out the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg defeat to Manchester United but was back in time to take the free-kick which led to the only game of the game on Sunday - a brilliant strike from Brennan Johnson.
After the match, Gibbs-White told Sky Sports it was far from certain that he would be available for the victory, which saw Forest move six points clear of the Premier League relegation zone.
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"It was touch and go. You know what the gaffer is like. I've been working hard in training trying to get back fit and luckily I was," he said.
"It's a massive win. Leeds are tough, a strong side, but we fought and got the better of them. We got the three points in the end.
"At 1-0 up it was all about how we managed the game. I feel like we defended incredibly. Fair play to the defence. They were unbelievable. We managed the game well."
Forest started slowly and were indebted to Keylor Navas in the first half as he made an outstanding debut in goal.
Goal hero Johnson says the fast start from Leeds came as no surprise as he joined Gibbs-White in praising his team-mates.
"We kind of got ready for that (a fast start from Leeds). Leeds are a really intensive team. They were going to make it hard for us so getting that first goal was vital," he said.
"The whole team, even when there are games where we don't see much of the ball, we didn't look like conceding today. Everyone was unbelievable to a man and hopefully we can keep this going."
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